A Dance with Darkness
by brokenxinsanity
Summary: (Previously named Love, Such a Fine Line) *Set during S4; One of Damon's old flames comes to down and helps with the vampire hunter problem. Old feelings arise and Damon falls in love with her all over again, causing Elena to get jealous. Problems arise when Klaus makes a discovery that could make or break Damon's new relationship, provided the hybrid is telling the truth.
1. The Beginning

He was supposed to get the hell out of town. He was supposed to do that before Elena turned. Now, he was sticking around to help with this new vampire hunter. What was he thinking? Damon was furious - but there was a certain vulnerability about his fury. But today he was short-tempered even by his own standards. Stefan knew from firsthand experience that Damon could make himself remarkably good company when he chose, telling outrageous stories and jokes until the most prejudiced and taciturn of passengers would laugh in spite of themselves. But today, he was off his rocker.

"What do you plan on doing, Damon?" Stefan had asked as soon as Damon opened the door.

"Well.. that vampire hunter venomjacked Tyler Lockwood of his werewolf venom, so now, he has vampire poison in a bottle." Damon turned his cold eyes on his brother. "I'm going to find him, and I'm gonna eat him." He took a sip out of his cup and muttered. "Faster I get this done, the faster I can get the hell outta town."

Stefan heard him.

Damon knew this, just by the look on his brother's face. It was a mix of confusion and hopefulness.

"Well don't look so hopeful, brother." Damon leered at him.

Stefan was about to say something, until another voice sounded.

"Glad to see a hundred and fifty years hasn't changed the two of you and your bickering."

Tight leather jacket, tight black jeans, black tank top and black heels, was all that Damon saw. But more importantly, the voice had pierced him in a place he never thought could be pierced again. Worst of all was the fact that charming girls, deceiving girls, was practically Damon's own raison d'être. It was certainly the only reason he'd been able to keep on living for the past century and a half. And yet he knew that he must not, must not even start the process with this one girl who, to him, was the jewel lying on the dungheap of humanity. To all appearances, he was perfectly in control, icy and precise, distant and disinterested.

The truth was that he was going out of his mind.

"What brings you to Mystic Falls, Celeste?" Stefan asked, raising an eyebrow.

She crossed her arms over her chest, pushing her breasts up that made Damon want to take her right then and there. It had been so long, so very long since he had that body against him and yet, he could still remember what it was like to have her near him.

"Why Damon called me, Saint Stefan." Celeste replied, winking at Damon.

It dawned on Damon then. He did call her - in his sleep. His dream consisted of her and he remembered calling out her name during the dream. He must've said it outloud too. He blinked and caught the sneaky glance that Celeste slipped him. There was an uncertainty to Celeste in that moment that Damon caught her eye. Damon wondered what it could be.

"Good luck with your date with your baby vamp of a girlfriend." Celeste called over her shoulder as she started toward where she'd appeared from. Damon followed wordlessly, passing Stefan on the way. When they reached the front of the house, Damon spotted a midnight blue crotch rocket, no doubt belonging to Celeste. She always was more like a tomboy than she was anything else.

"So, you wanna tell me what you were dreaming about when you called me?"

"I didn't know I called you."

"Of course." Celeste threw her leg over the bike and settled into the dip of the seat. "So are we going after this hunter or should we sit here and catch up on old times?" She smirked, patting the back of the seat.

Damon raised an eyebrow, one that said 'you want me to get on the back of that?'

_Yes, Damon. Get on the back._ Celeste's voice ran through his mind.

_Let me drive_. Damon's voice replied.

There was a pause, before Celeste slid - ass first, he might add - very seductively onto the back seat. He flipped his leg over and cranked the engine, which sounded more like a tiger than anything else. He felt Celeste's hands wrap themselves around his waist. Her body melted into his. He took his hand off the brake and the bike moved forward slowly at first, watching as Elena pulled up in her own car.

_I take it that's the one you two are in love with._ Celeste questioned.

_Yep_. Damon replied quickly.

He watched as Elena raised her eyebrow at him and at the one he was with. He could practically feel Celeste sending anger toward her as they sped off to find this new vampire hunter's hideout.


	2. Heaven Help You

When they reached Towns square, Damon had pulled the bike over into the Sheriff's station, hoping to ask Liz where this hunter lived. He could only hope she wouldn't put up much of a fight, to a point where he'd have to compel the information out of her. He swung his leg over the bike after placing it on the kick stand. Celeste followed suit and walked in sync with Damon toward the door.

The first person they saw, was ironically Liz Forbes. The very same person they were looking for in the first place. Celeste noted that she looked like she was ready to walk out when they walked in.

"We need some information." Celeste smiled politely.

"About this new vampire hunter - the one that tried to kill all vampires at the memorial." Damon finished.

"I'm sorry Damon, but you know I can't give that information out on where this guy is staying."

"Come on Liz." Damon dropped his voice as he stared at her. "Tell me where he's at."

"He's staying in a trailer in the clearing off the highway."

Behind him, Celeste was smirking.

After Damon lifted the compulsion off of Liz, the two vampires got back on the bike and headed toward the hunter's hideout. It didn't take them very long to get to the place. It wasn't hard to spot, either.

_A forest green trailer on wheels... in the middle of a forest._ Celeste's mental voice went through Damon's as she scoffed lightly.

She hopped off the bike and took a step forward, glancing around. She was about to take another step when Damon grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her back before stepping all the way up to the door of the small trailer. Celeste glared at his back.

"So what is this guy, the male Buffy?" Celeste whispered as Damon opened the door and stepped in with her following suit, seeing all the weapons and different things to take out a vampire with.

There was a pause and then Damon groaning. Celeste turned around and saw the arrow going right through Damon's shoulder.

"Damn it."

"It's in there pretty good." Celeste said as she dipped down to step under the wire that the feathered end of the arrow was in. Damon tried to keep his eyes straight ahead of him, but still, he could feel Celeste's hands as she gripped the top of his jeans to balance herself. Celeste stopped, glanced at Damon. "Don't tell me you didn't see the bow an arrow. Are your skills that bad now? Or maybe Katherine number two is getting to you." Celeste snorted, but her expression was gleeful. "Sweetheart, you wouldn't have seen the arrow if it bit you on the ass."

"I prefer my bites in other places."

"Is that an invitation?" Celeste smirked.

Oh she was good. She was just as evil as he was.

"I'm really about as good at relationships as I am at being a vampire. I'm kind of a smart but surprisingly inept kind of girl." Celeste mumbled as she began to dig the arrow out. "So what's the deal with you wanting the brother's girl?"

"It's a long story."

"Well, we've got all the time in the world, Damon. Unless you want to stand there in utter silence while I work and arrow out of your shoulder." She wasn't sure if the word boy should mean dim or incomprehensible. She was hovering between the two, with a healthy dose of testosterone-poisoned. "Was it because you wanted to one up your brother? Besides, the normal people here wouldn't see it. That was what "different" meant. It's just another word for lonely. "

"I'm not lonely." The words slipped out before Damon had a chance to stop them.

"A century and a half says otherwise." Celeste replied.

"She's different. Stefan doesn't know how to handle that fire within her."

"And you do?" Celeste raised an eyebrow. "Oh I get it, it's one of those 'You don't love a girl because of beauty. You love her because she sings a song only you can understand' kind of things."

Damon scoffed. "I remember we used to have that once upon a time."

"Not everyone gets a happily ever after, Damon." Celeste snapped, digging out the last big of the arrow before going around to Damon's front and grabbing hold of the arrow and pulled, the arrow come out with ease. Before Damon could move, Celeste stopped him with her hands on his chest. "There comes a point when you just love someone. Not because they're good, or bad, or anything really. You just love them. It doesn't mean you'll be together forever. It doesn't mean you won't hurt each other. It just means you love them. Sometimes in spite of who they are, and sometimes because of who they are. And you know that they love you, sometimes because of who you are, and sometimes in spite of it. That, Damon, is what we had."

And then she walked out of the trailer, leaving Damon standing there dumbfounded. But then he was out the door faster than he could ever remember.

"Love sucks, Damon. Sometimes it feels good. Sometimes it's just another way to bleed." Celeste smirked as she threw her leg over the bike, taking over the driver's seat. "Hop on, I'm driving... since I wasn't the one that got an arrow to the shoulder."

"Afraid I might crash and hurt you?" Damon replied as he got on the back.

"Nope. I'm afraid you might crash and hurt my bike." Celeste said as she kicked up the stand and sped off.


	3. The Rage

"Who is she?" Elena questioned as she and Stefan headed into the boarding house.

"A childhood friend of Damon's. She was more or less Damon's best friend." Stefan replied. "They were born the same day. Growing up, they thought the same way and acted like each other. They were a perfect match, where one was, the other wasn't far away."

The distant revving of engine gave them indication that the people they were talking about were pulling up. And then a few seconds later, Damon and Celeste were walking into the boarding house, one right after another.

"Where did you go, Damon?"

"What do you care?" Celeste quipped, raising an eyebrow at Elena.

Elena glared at her.

"I didn't ask you."

"Yeah, well, no one asked you to speak without being spoken to either." Celeste shrugged. "Guess we're even."

Sometimes you meet a girl and it's like matter and antimatter. You just hate each other for no damn reason, but Celeste had a perfectly good reason why she hated Elena. Because Elena was screwing with Damon. And Damon was like her other half - no one screwed with him. And then she acted like everyone was supposed to bend over backwards for her.

"Who are you?"

"Who are you, Elena?" Celeste countered as she stepped forward toward the baby vamp. "Is life supposed to stop because you did something horrible? I'll tell you the real horrible truth, Elena. No matter what you do or how bad you feel about it, life just goes on. Life doesn't give a fuck that you're sorry or upset or deranged or tormented. Life just goes on, and you gotta go on with it, or sit in the middle of the road and feel sorry for yourself. And I don't see you doing that. These two idiots -" She waved her hand at Damon and Stefan before turning back to her. "-huddle around your humanity like it is the last candle flame in a world of darkness. What I wanna know is why. Why bother? You're just another vampire who hates being what you were turned into. You sit there and you act like everyone is supposed to do what you tell them to." Celeste's eyes narrowed at the vampire. "Well I'm sorry to burst that bubble of yours, your highness, but this is one vampire that will not bend over backwards for your foolish ass."

People hate it when you call them on jackassery. That's a big fact of human nature: Not a lot of people want to be called on being assholes. They prefer to do their assholishness in the dark and cover it up with fancy words. Because they don't mind being evil - they just hate being evil where people might see. And the face that followed her speech, made Celeste want to grin like a mad woman. There came a time in everyone's life when they realized that in spite of how hard they'd been running from themselves, everywhere they went, there they were: Addictions and compulsions were nothing but marching bands of distraction, masking truths that were unpleasant, but ultimately undeniable.

Celeste had turned her back to Elena and that's when Elena took her chance. She lunged at the older vampire, hatred filled in her eyes. She managed to grab her shoulder, but the older vampire was much faster as she pinned her against the wall, fury matching the hatred filled eyes. "Touch me again, and it will be your last act in life." She only had let go of the vampire before Damon had his slender hands around her waist, pulling her from tearing the new vampire apart. Stefan was simmering below the surface. She could sense it. She didn't care. She simply put in words what Damon had really wanted to say since Elena had turned.

Celeste was breathing heavy against Damon's arms, trying to calm down. But every time she looked at Elena, she wanted to murder her. There was a pause, before Damon had hooked his arm behind her legs and picked her up, carrying her to his room with Celeste hiding her face into his chest. She didn't see the evil murderous glare that Elena gave her while Damon was walking up the stairs.

When they reached his room, Damon had set Celeste on the bed, grabbing her wrists in his hands when she tried to get up.

_Stop. Stop. _Damon's mental mind poked through her fury filled one.

_Let me go! She deserved it!_

The warmth of her body shouldn't have felt good. She was angry and every muscle was tense. It was like being leaned on by a very heavy, warm brick. A sexy brick. Damon could only keep his mind for so long. If she know how strongly he felt, she'd have run out the door. He wasn't used to the possessive, or the savage joy she brought to his heart. It ate at his control, so he turned his attention to the fury she felt. He understood fury.

After a few moments of trying to fight him, Celeste had used up all her fury and she collasped against the bed. "I'm sorry."

He sighed. " I don't think an apology will do, Celeste. Because an apology implies that you wouldn't do it again. And, under the circumstances, you wouldn't do anything differently, would you?"

"No."

Somewhere deep down, Damon smirked.


	4. Heart Strings

Thank all the little demons in hell, his pride was stronger than the desire he felt. Damon had never asked for anything from anyone in his life. He paid for the blood he took from humans in his own particular coin: of pleasure and fantasy and dreams. All life is rife with possibilities. Seeds have possibilities, but all their tomorrows are caught by the patterning of their life cycle. Animals have possibilities that are greater than that of a fir tree or a blade of grass. Still, though, for most animals, the pattern of instinct, the patterns of their lives, are very strong. Humanity has a far greater range of possibilities, especially the very young. Who will children grow up to be? Who will they marry, what will they believe, what will they create? Creation is a very powerful seed of possibility.

Some truths are truths, no matter who says them. Hard truths can be dealt with, triumphed over, but lies will destroy your soul. The Greeks believed that once there were no male and female, that all souls were one. Then the souls were torn apart, male and female. The Greeks thought that when you found the other half of your soul, your soul mate, that it would be your perfect lover. But Damon thought if you found your other half, you would be too much alike to be lovers, but you would still be soul mates.

There was Damon. Leather and silk and fine chiseled features. Mercurial and devastating nonetheless. Celeste smiled and he had to smile back, at first just a quirk of the lip, and then a full smile. She was… she was everything. Witty, enchanting, brave, smart…and beautiful. And he knew that his eyes were saying all that and that she wasn't turning away. Of course not, this was his other half he was looking at. Keeping love buried was a lot like keeping anger pent up, she'd learned. It just ate you up insides until you wanted to scream or kick something.

There was a memory she could remember; one where Damon had turned her and she was having a hard time adjusting to human blood, and that was when Damon had turned to her and held his wrist out. And she drank from him. Ever since then, they'd been connected far more than they were as humans. She could tell when he was angry or hurt and he could read her mind like a book. Being a successful couple was learning what you were willing to compromise on, and what you weren't; learning when to stand your ground, and when to give it up; what was truly important enough to fight over, and what was just you being pissy. You learned each other's hot buttons, the places that hurt, or angered, when you pressed them. Love makes you learn where all the pitfalls are, and how to avoid them, or how to set them off.

And they had done that. In the twenty-four human years they had, they had learned everything there was about each other. And then one person tore them apart. Love and Loyalty, run deeper than blood. That's what it meant for them. They loved each other and they were loyal to one another. How many memories can come through at once before they are just jumbled words and faces mixed together by years of pain? She had been hurt. Oh, she had been deeply hurt by him chasing after Katherine. She'd been broken, but not defeated. He was still her Damon, in her eyes, no matter how many women he went through or loved.

They were still in his room and somewhere, somehow she managed to fall asleep just like he did. She didn't dare venture out into the hallway, for fear of bumping into the doppelganger and then surely the world would end.

"Damon?" Celeste whispered, shaking the vampire out of the slumber she hadn't noticed he went into.

"Mmm?" Damon mumbled in his sleep.

"I'm hungry."

There was a pause and she actually thought he had fallen back into his slumber, but then he held his arm out - his eyes still closed. She wondered if he knew what he was doing. She took his wrist with both hands and bit into it, her eyes fixated on his face. There was a slight muted wince, but then his face went back to being peaceful. She didn't drink for very long, because Damon had woken up fully and cradling her neck in his hands before sinking his fangs in.

There was a pleasurable moan that escaped her lips before she had a chance to stop it. This was sex to vampires - you could have sex like humans but it wasn't nearly as pleasurable as it was to bit into the flesh of another vampire. Maybe some hidden, fragmented part of her had feared that if she admitted to Damon how much he truly meant to her, then she'd be acknowledging to herself that he had the power to destroy her more thoroughly than anyone could. All the rest of the world could only kill or devastate her mind. Damon alone held the power to demolish her soul.

And that was more scarier than admitting it to him.

A few moments paused between them before Damon retracted his fangs from his neck and Celeste all but fell over from the ecstacy feeling. She could practically _feel _Damon chuckling.


	5. Breath of Death

When Damon woke for the second time that night, Celeste was no where to be found. Damon had found Stefan and Elena in the living room, but no Celeste. He was about to ask if his brother knew of her whereabouts when a sharp, unrelenting pain tore through his sternum, making Damon gasp for breath. Both Stefan and Elena stood and ran over to him as he fell to his knees in pain.

"What's wrong?" Elena questioned, attempting to get Damon to let out a breath he seemed to be forever sucking in. When a man is on the verge of passing out from pain, it seemed wrong to notice how beautiful he was. Shaking her head, she forced the thought out. There was no blood. There was no commotion, either. Along his arteries and veins - and his nerves - everything connected to his heart was turning a viscous black.

"Where is - Where is she?" Damon choked out.

"I have no idea. She wasn't here when we woke up." Stefan answered him.

"Somethi-something has happened to her. I - I can feel it." Damon gasped for air, as if he was human trying to catch their breath. "I'm not hurt - but I feel the stake." One hand gripped the end of his shirt and lifted it to show the smooth milky white skin of his torso. No wounds. No blood.

* * *

The was a scream, that pierced the forest. Black birds could be seen flying away. The unbelievable pain that followed as the stake was pushed farther into her sternum, scrapping her heart. Tears were freely streaming down Celeste's face, her hands vervain laced, tied above her head as she laid down on the metal table. The vampire hunter's face was mere inches from her own as he twisted and turned the stake, torturing her.

All she had done was go to the Grill to have a few drinks and have her thoughts to herself and this guy comes up to her and wants to shake her hand as she was walking out. She was drunk, sure, but still. Why did she fucking shake his hand? The alcohol had clouded her judgment. It was a gut wrenching pain that she had only felt once before in her entire life. But she managed to curse at him and even growl at him, showing her vampire teeth.

"Your growling might impress the sort of men you're accustomed to consorting with,but quite frankly, I find it to be a bit of a bore."

"Bite me." She sneered at him.

Connor smirked. "You're not my type."

Happily ever after wasn't a destination, it was a journey. And she was well on her way to never seeing it. This was how it was going to end, huh?_ Such a tragic way of going_, she thought bitterly. What pained her most of all, was that she'd never tell Damon she loved him. She'd never be able to take him away from Elena and show him that one person can love him and not love someone else on the side. That, is what pained her more than any physical pain.

* * *

"Klaus, where are you?" Stefan shouted into the phone before snapping it shut. Then the door opened, and the Original pain in the ass stepped through with a bunch of his hybrid slaves.

"One message would of sufficed."

He cast a glance at the elder Salvatore on the couch, shaking slightly as he downed another glass of alcohol. "What's wrong with him?"

"No idea." Stefan answered truthfully. "But a friend of ours - we think she's been captured by that hunter."

"Is that so?" He glanced again at Damon, curiosity written all over his face as he caught a glimpse of the darkened veins that were spread out like wildfire on the elder Salvatore's skin. He knew those markings all too well. "I'll help," He turned to look at Stefan. "On one condition, I bring Damon with me."

"No way. He can barely stand!"

"Listen to me - the closer he gets to her, the less pain both will feel." Klaus lowered his voice as he spoke.

"What do you mean? What's wrong with him?"

Klaus clapped him on the back. "True love, mate. Yes. I'm talking about those fairy tales."

Damon attempted to stand then. "I'm going to find this hunter and I'm going to kill him."

In an odd sense of respect, Klaus grabbed Damon's arm, preventing him from toppling over.

* * *

The car ride was silent, with Damon trying desperately to not scream out in pain. Klaus admired his attempts to bite his tongue.

"Pain subsiding a little, at least?"

"Why are you helping us?" Damon questioned.

"Because mate, I was in your shoes a thousand years ago." Klaus replied.

Damon turned his head and raised an eyebrow. "You?"

"Yes me." Klaus scoffed. "It's a fickle thing, true love. You only come across it a few thousand years. It can be a bitch, but it can be a pleasure at the same time. The closer we get to this hunter, the better you'll start to feel."

"What was - her name?" Damon asked through gritted teeth.

There was a pause as Klaus pressed the gas pedal further down to the floor. "Tatia."

"Wait -" There was a few profanities from the elder Salvatore's mouth as he tried to hide the pain before he managed to speak. "- the original Petrova?"

"Precisely."

Silence covered the car as they continued to drive. The pain was lessening, little by little as they got closer to the spot where the hunter's trailer was, but that didn't mean it didn't still hurt like a bitch.

"Funny thing about this girl, she must have been awfully persuasive to get you to fall for her. Never met her but she sounds like a real riot if she's anything like you."

Damon laughed in spite of himself.

The pain had subsided to a numbing sensation by the time they reached the trailer and then they heard something that set Damon's nerves on fire.

A blood curdling scream.


	6. Savior

It seemed Lady Luck hated him worse than usual. He recognized that scream from anywhere. There was a split second where Damon didn't give two shits about the pain he was in as he took bigger strides toward the trailer than usual. Fury driven and _very _pissed off, Damon threw the door open and stepped in.

What Celeste saw wasn't the Damon she always knew. This was a vampire that was very pissed off and ready to take down anything that got in his way. In this world, you were either strong, or you were dead. you did what you had to if you wanted to survive. And Damon was her savior. Did she really just say he was her savior? Since when did she need a savior? _Since you're in too much pain and shackled down to protect yourself. _Her mind screamed at her.

Black dots were forming in front of her vision as another face appeared out of nowhere.

Klaus looked down at Celeste and with a quick grip, pulled the stake out of her chest in one go. She screamed. Boy, did she scream, but Klaus couldn't be bothered with that as took the stake and shoved it through the vampire hunter's chest. Blood spilled out of his mouth, down the front of his shirt and onto the floor. The hunter already had a wound in his neck, what was another wound? Klaus suspected that Damon had something to do with the first wound.

"You've got one chance to answer me. Why did you kidnap her?"

"She's.. I was told to."

"By who?" Damon demanded.

"Not-telling."

Klaus drove the stake deeper just as Damon turned around and ripped the shackles that were holding her down from her wrists.

"Shhh... it's okay."

He just wanted to hold her to him and tell her it would be okay, that she had survived and was beautiful, even if she was tear streaked and bloody. As his ears rang and his heart broke for her, he stayed strong against the gale force she let loose. After all, there was a reason why here and hear were separated by so little and sounded one like the other. Bearing witness to her, he heard her and was there for her because that was all you could do during a fall apart. But God, it pained him to see how she suffered.

It was the first time in a hundred and fifty years that he saw the girl crumble in front of his eyes. When he first turned her, she was in pain and couldn't keep it together. Now, her steel walls were gone and the cold hearted vampire, was a weak mess in front of him. Fate had a funny way of handing out cards.

Sometimes IVs and pills weren't always the best course of treatment for the injured. Sometimes all you needed was the touch of the one you loved and the sound of their voice and the knowledge that you were home, and that was enough to drag you back from the brink. She watched as Damon bit into his wrist to feed her some of his blood, only to be stopped by Klaus.

"I'm afraid your blood isn't what she needs at the moment." Klaus bit into his wrist and held it to her lips. "She's been injected with werewolf venom. Drink."

She wanted to bask deeply in the taste of Damon's blood, in that flowing crimson filled with his feelings melted in it, but she was faced with blood that tasted like black wine, with a sour, tangy taste to it. After a few unsatisfying gulps, a weak hand pushed the wrist away. Both Klaus and Damon helped her up into a sitting position, but it was Damon that hooked his arm under her knees and carried her out to the car.

Klaus stayed behind and threw a lit match in the trailer. Soon, all three of them were watching the trailer go up in smoke. It was a satisfying end to a dangerous night.

"Get the door."

Klaus actually obeyed Damon and held the door open while he put Celeste in the backseat and covered her with his leather jacket. Another minute later and both the vampires and hybrid were driving back to the boarding house.

"She asleep?" Klaus asked, annoyed at the complete silence that had become a thing in such a short time.

Damon checked over his shoulder and nodded. "Mhmm."

More silence.

"Listen," Klaus began. "..I'm sorry about all the things I did to you and to your brother. Loneliness makes you do some pretty stupid things."

Damon could hardly believe his ears. Klaus, apologizing? He must've been going crazy. There was no way in hell that the hybrid was apologizing. Raising an eyebrow, Damon tried to form a coherent sentence. "I-that's-uh, thank you?"

For once, Klaus laughed. _He was actually laughing. _

"You aren't so bad, when you're not trying to kill us."

After a few moments that it took for Klaus to compose himself, he managed to blurt out his next question.

"What makes her so special? I thought you were so into Elena the doppelganger."

Damon thought about that for a moment as the trees kept passing, one by one. Women already come equipped with a core of steel fiber strength, depths of resolve a man cannot comprehend. But there was a blazing fire in the vampire that lay asleep in the backseat that no one could extinguish. "It's complicated."

"We still have time." Klaus urged.

Sighing, Damon spoke. "We were born the same day, her and I. Our mothers were two peas in a pod, to say the least, so her and I saw a lot of each other. We were- we were truly each other's halves. When Stefan forced me into completing the transition and I ran, I went to her house and asked her if she wanted to be like me. I told her I couldn't live the undead life without her. After that, we got separated somehow and with this vampire hunter, I called her telepathically and she came."

"Ah." Klaus smirked. "So it's one of those 'No one knows me the way she knows me, so she's always got a spell on me' kind of things."

"Something like that." Damon replied as he looked over his shoulder at the still sleeping vampire in the backseat.


	7. Devil's Handywork

Maybe it was true that the more things changed, the more they stayed the same.

When Damon walked through the door with Celeste in his arms, Stefan and Elena stood. As he got closer to the living room, he realized that Caroline and Tyler was there too. Great.

Gently laying her down on the couch, Damon gave Elena a pointed glance before he turned back to Klaus and held his hand out to the hybrid.

"Thank you."

Klaus gripped his wrist with his own hand. "You're welcome, mate."

They released hands and Klaus took his exit, but as he got to the door, he stopped. "I'd take good care of her Damon," Klaus said, smirking. "There's only one every few thousand years."

Damon nodded, before cracking one of his unusual smiles.

Caroline, Tyler, Stefan and Elena all looked at him.

Crap.

A audible gasp brought them all out of their state. Damon bent down and looked at Celeste.

"Damon?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it's me."

The vampire fell back against the leather couch, a slow smile touching her lips. "You found me."

At the risk of sounding like an utter sap around the people that he saw everyday, Damon took her hand in his as he brushed a few hairs out of her face with the other. "Ever doubt I wouldn't?" His eyes probed her delicately, searching for any sign that she might be forever scarred. His fingertip gently wiped away a tear that had escaped down her cheek that she didn't know had fallen from her watery eyes. This was what love meant after all: sacrifice and selflessness. It did not mean hearts and flowers and a happy ending, but the knowledge that another's well-being is more important than one's own. He felt a more powerful protectiveness toward her now.

Her eyelids felt like they had tiny but chubby sleep faeries hanging on the lashes and pulling them closed, ushering her into a deep, deep slumber.

A sleepy hand reached up to caress his cheek before dropping back to it's original place. "I'm so sleepy."

Damon leaned down and brushed his lips against her ear, whispering. "Don't fight it, sleep, my black bird."

A weak smile touched her lips. "You still remember my-" She didn't finish the sentence as her head lolled to the side and sleep took over.

Damon realized then, that we all make mistakes. It's how we fix them that makes us who we are.

"Damon?"

Closing his eyes, Damon turned unwillingly toward Elena. "What now, Elena?"

"Is she going to be okay?"

"What do you care?" Damon snapped. "A day ago, you were attacking her because she simply stated the truth that no one was willing to admit, including me. You're a vampire, Elena. Be a vampire. Drink from the vein, kill humans if you want, it's the only way you're going to survive. I'd allowed myself to feel love –yes, shockingly love– for another person in a way I'd once sworn to myself I never would again. I'd become completely vulnerable, and then I'd been torn apart with hurt and catapulted onto a path I might never have taken otherwise. I'd risked my life countless times for you and you still picked the martyr." He gestured with his hand around her body. "This is not my fault. It might have been my blood that turned you, but I would of saved you." He leaned forward to whisper into her ear. "No more."

Damon left a dumbfounded Elena standing there and went over to the sleeping Celeste, picking her up off the couch. He didn't speak another word as he carried the vampire up to his room for the second time since she'd come back into his life. You don't analyze love. You accept it and that's just what he had done.

When he managed to get the door open and lay her down on his enormous bed, Damon began the treacherous task of getting off her bloodied clothes. The first to go were her shoes as he started a pile in the corner of the room. Her stilettos had spikes lining the heel, something like that, made Damon chuckle. The next piece to go was her bloodied tank top.

Unfortunately for him, she stirred a little.

He managed to get her tank top off without a hitch, and her skinny jeans were the last thing to go as he gazed at her beaten body before him. The animalistic side to him wanted to kiss away all the wounds, but he refrained himself. He quickly went to his closet and pulled out one of his button down shirts, gently putting it on her and re-buttoning the buttons.

Once he was satisfied, Damon tucked her in under the heavy covers.

* * *

_The night was warm as she hurried quickly down the lonely road, her bare feet pounding against the ground. Barefoot was much faster than her heels, which barely hung on in her hands. She had to meet him. Sure, their mothers were gone, and their fathers were at war with one another, but that didn't stop them. That didn't stop her love for him. Even if they were subjected to sneaking out during the dark summer nights to get a glimpse of each other, to be in each other's arms._

_"You said you were too sentimental for your own good sometimes."_

_Out loud he said, "Perhaps, but you have taught me that sentiment is not always a bad thing."_

_She stared up at that impossibly beautiful face, and felt love swell up inside her like a physical force. It filled her body, swelling upward until it made her chest ache, her throat tighten, and her eyes burn. It sounded so stupid. But she loved him. Loved all of him, but loved him more because loving her had made him better. That he would say that she had taught him about being sentimental made her want to cry. Damon reminded her at every turn that she was bloodthirsty and cold. If that were true, then she couldn't have taught him about sentimentality. You can't learn, if you don't have it to teach._

_He had crossed the distance between them. He kissed her. He kissed her softly, with one hand lost in the hair to the side of her face. He drew back and whispered, "I never thought to see that look upon your face, not for me."_

_"I love you," She said, and touched his hand where it lay against her face._

_"I love you too, my black bird."_


	8. I Need You

There comes a point when you either embrace who and what you are, or condemn yourself to be miserable all your days. Other people will try to make you miserable; don't help them by doing the job yourself. There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds. Only love of a good woman will make a man question every choice, every action. Only love makes a warrior hesitate for fear that his lady will find him cruel. Only love makes a man both the best he will ever be, and the weakest. Sometimes all in the same moment. Men don't settle down because of the right woman. They settle down because they are finally ready for it. Whatever woman they're dating when they get ready is the one they settle down with, not necessarily the best one or the prettiest, just the one who happened to be on hand when the time got to be right. Unromantic, but still true. But this wasn't the case with Damon Salvatore.

He knew where his heart had belonged all along.

He was just too blind to see it.

Sometimes it's not the optimist you need, but another pessimist to walk beside you and know, absolutely know, that the sound in the dark is a monster, and it really is as bad as you think. Did that sound hopeless? It didn't feel hopeless. It felt reassuring. It felt - real. Love was too precious to be ashamed of. He'd been so full of hatred for a century and a half and now, it was slowly releasing from his shell of a heart. Most hatred is based on fear, one way or another. Yeah. He wrapped himself in anger, with a dash of hate, and at the bottom of it all was an icy center of pure terror. That's what got him through most days, A flower may be beautiful all on its own, but a person is never truly beautiful unless someone's eyes shows them that they are beautiful.

He had picked up _Gone with the Wind _a few hours ago, something to occupy his time so he wouldn't have to go downstairs and deal with those pests that inhabited his house, occasionally glancing up to make sure Celeste was still alive and breathing. What is love? Sometimes it's just letting yourself be who and what you are, and letting the person you're supposed to love be who and what he is too. Or maybe what and who they are. Every relationship is messed up. What makes it really perfect is if you still want to be there when things suck.

He was reminded that Scarlett and Rhett were very much like himself and Celeste. They were starcrossed lovers, only it had been almost two centuries since he had her body against his.

* * *

_They say there is no light without dark, no good without evil, no male without female, no right without wrong. That nothing can exist if it's direct opposite does not also exist. That's how Damon Salvatore felt. He could not - and would not - exist if his direct opposite did not. He had climbed up to her bedroom and tapped on the glass, waking the sleeping beauty from her slumber. A look of shock and surprise crossed her features when she noticed that it was him. She had quietly opened the window and told him to come in._

_There was no hesitation in her voice as she told him he could come in._

_That's when he knew he wanted her._

_Celeste was something else entirely as she stood in her nightgown in front of him. She regarded him carefully, inspecting him, checking to see if his father had caught on to their little night sneak outs. He rewarded her with one of those brilliant smiles. If she had been less professional, it might have melted her into her socks. There was a tinge of evil to it, a lot of sex, but under that was a little boy peeking out, an uncertain little boy. That was it. That was the attraction. Nothing is more appealing than a handsome man who is also uncertain of himself. It appeals not only to the woman in us all, but the mother. A dangerous combination._

_"Damon, what are you doing here?"_

_"Come with me." He had said. "Let's run away, we'll live forever and travel the world. Just say you'll stay with me...forever."_

_She hadn't known what those words meant then, but there was no question in her mind as she agreed and he had taken her by the shoulders and smiled at her, his pearly white fangs piercing the dim candle light. She wasn't afraid. She was in love and when you were in love, there was no such thing as being afraid. _

_"I want to stay with you, forever."_

_And those were the last words she ever spoke as a human as he sunk his fangs into his wrist and fed his blood to her. Once he knew she had enough, he had smiled at her again._

_"We'll be together again, my black bird." He had whispered, right before he sunk his fangs into her neck and drained her dry, ending her mortal life at the stroke of midnight._

_Love, whether it's friendship or more, is like a cup. It fills up drop by drop, until one last drop and the cup is full. The liquid hangs there almost above the rim, hangs there on surface tension alone and you know that one more drop and it will spill over. When you dance with the devil, it might as well be a devil who can give you your own corner of hell to rule. And she had made a bet with the very Devil himself._

_Sometimes good and evil aren't so much opposites as two sides of a coin. You toss it one way and it looks good, another way and it's evil, sometimes it just depends on which end of the gun you're on. Sometimes you fight what you are, and sometimes you give in to it. And some nights you just don't want to fight yourself anymore, so you pick someone else to fight. Sometimes love makes you selfish. Sometimes it makes you stupid. Sometimes it reminds you why you love in the first place. Sometimes it's not the light in a person you fall in love with, but the dark. Sometimes it's not the optimist you need, but another pessimist to walk beside you and know, absolutely know, that the sound in the dark is a monster, and it really is as bad as you think._


	9. Blood Soaked Promises

_Graves are for the living, not the dead. It gives us something to concentrate on instead of the fact that our loved one is rotting under the ground. Or at least, that's what she liked to thing as looked down at her mother's headstone._

_"Everything hurts." She said._

_He put his chin on the top of her head. "I know." He wrapped both arms around her just above her chest and pulled her against him. She in turn, wrapped her arms around his torso._

_"Do you think she'd be proud of us?" She questioned as she lifted her head off his chest._

_"Your mother was a very strange woman, I'm afraid I can't answer that."_

_That made her laugh, a soulful throaty laugh. She had to hide her face in his chest to stop from scaring all the animals away._

_When she recovered from her laughing fit, Damon had broke away from her embrace and held her by her shoulders. "There's only a few hours left before you have to make a decision. The second you stop questioning yourself is the second that you become the monster. Every time you go over the edge, I'll be right there to pull you back. Do you understand me? No matter where you go, I will always find you."_

_She nodded silently, smiling softly. _

_She knew the universe has a sense of irony, and sometimes you get reminded just how sadistic that can be. Love mattered, in the end. A house without love would always fall, maybe not today or tomorrow, but in the end without love nothing could endure. And the moment you care that much, a man has you. He owns a little piece of your soul, and he can beat you to death with it. She had signed a piece of her soul over to him the minute she let him into her bedroom window._

_She had been sustaining herself for the past day by drinking the blood of the person that had killed her. But now, time was slowly eating away at her and she needed to make her choice; did she want to live out the rest of eternity with the man she loved or did she want to die and be put next to her mother with a headstone of her own that read; here lies Celeste, she'll always be with us, whenever we see black birds. _

_"I've made my decision."_

_Damon had smiled at her. He had accepted whatever her choice may have been. But he had hoped with all his being that she'd pick to stay with him. _

_Sometime later, she had lost track of time as her body began to tear itself apart without the prescence of human blood, Celeste was drinking from one of the maids from her home. And as soon as her thirst was quenched, Damon had compelled her and healed her, letting her go on her merry ol' way._

_And that was the end of it._

_She was now a vampire._

* * *

It was sometime after the sun set behind the horizon, did Damon realize that Celeste was waking from her slumber. Setting his book down, He went over to her and sat on the edge of the bed. Dark eyes peered from under dark eyelashes as she began to come around. When she looked up, however, she wasn't expecting who she saw.

Damon smirked. "Welcome back to the land of the living, Sleeping Beauty."

She stared at Damon and it wasn't the beauty of him that made her love him, it was just him. It was love made up of a thousand touches, a million conversations, a trillion shared looks. A love made up of danger shared, enemies conquered, a determination to neither of them would change the other, even if they could. She loved Damon, all of him, because if she took away the plottings, the labyrinth of his mind, it would lessen him, make him someone else. And then where would she be? Sometimes you deal with the devil not because you want to, but because if you don't, someone else will.

"If you're too damn stubborn to let yourself cry, then let your body find other ways to let it out."

She swung her arms around his neck, hugging him closer to her. And she held him there, never wanting to let go of him.

Surprisingly, Damon automatically hugged her back.

She retracted herself from his body and before he could say another word, she had kissed him, full on the lips, very passionately, exactly the same way she did when she realized that her transisition had worked and she was going to see another day - with him. She had kissed him with everything she had in her.

Damon didn't resist her advance.

How could he? He'd been waiting for this moment since she arrived. Anyone who says love is free has never truly been in love. Your lover will need comfort. Your spouse will have bad days. Your child will have their heart broken, more than once and you will be expected to help pick up the pieces. Your beloved pets become a parade of joy and loss. Love costs, sometimes it costs everything you have, and sometimes it costs more. On those days you weigh the joy you gain against the pain; you weigh the energy given from the loving and the energy lost from the duties that love places upon us. Love can be the most expensive thing in the world. If it's worth it, great, but if not, then love does not conquer all, sometimes you are conquered by it. You are laid waste before the breathtaking pain of it, and crushed under the weight of it's obligations.

Some moments are perfect, and then someone comes along and fucks it up. Ain't it always the way? Elena had walked in on them and Celeste was the first to break the kiss.

"Don't you ever knock?"

Elena glared at her, but said nothing as she dropped a few blood bags on the bedside table and then turned and left.


	10. Don't Wake Me

No one can make you a victim but yourself. That's the thing she'd been realizing lately. Everything changes. Everything is temporary, except for the sky. When you find yourself caught up in the horrors or heroes of a lifetime, look up. Don't look down. That which is beneath our feet is liquid, but the sky, the sky is solid, constant, ever ready and ever hopeful that the sun will rise in the morning and the moon will rise at night. They don't really set, you know. They're always rising, just rising for someone else. Love is the greatest act of faith, but it can always be the biggest bitch of all time.

Have you ever had one of those days where you give up on being really clean? Where you don't have time for the entire scrubbing and exfoliating regime, so you settle for the basics? Where brushing your teeth becomes the most rigorous part of your cleaning ritual? It was like that, only much worse as she scrubbed off the crusty blood from her naked body.

"Still alive in here?"

Sighing and rolling her eyes, Celeste shook her head. "Yes, Damon. I'm still alive... for the umpteenth time you've asked me in the last fifteen minutes."

"Well, can I help it if I wanna get a peek of that naked body of yours?"

"We're never going to get anything accomplished if you keep saying things like that."

"Perhaps that's the point." Damon said right next to her ear. She all but jumped out of her skin. He was naked next to her. It was impossible to keep her eyes on his face.

So that's what it felt like for a man who had to keep his eyes on a woman's face instead of the huge door knockers on her chest. Damn that immortal vampire standing so close to her that she could _feel _his junk rubbing against her inner thighs. He was teasing her. He was _torturing _her.

_This is a problem_.

She found herself backed up against the wall, directly underneath the streaming hot water. She had a temptation to turn it to super cold and douse him in an ice bath. She creeped her hand toward the faucet, but he caught her hand in his vice like grip.

Damn.

They might have been born the same day, but he had a few extra days of experience at being a vampire than her. He had the upper hand. And his eyes showed that. His eyes showed that she was his protege and that he was essentially her maker. She was the pawn and he was the king, waiting to call check mate.

One swift movement and Damon had her spun around and pressed against shower wall, with him pressed fully against her ass.

She lost her mind then.

She was certain of it.

The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds. And that's what he'd given her. That's what she'd hoped to give him forever.

His lips went to her neck and any left over sanity that hadn't left her before, did then. His hands explored her body, cupped her breasts as he nibbled at every inch of her neck. She could barely keep her wits about her. And he seemed to figure that out, as he chuckled in her ear. He had her right where he wanted her and there was no way in hell she was getting out of it.

There was one sweet moment where she had a chance to get a idea of the pleasure he was about to bestow upon her before she felt the intrusion of his full, satiny length within her inner walls. The moan that left her lips brought a growl out of the animal that was behind her. She gripped the shower door as he slowly and agonizingly thrusted into her.

His lips kissed the spot right between her shoulder blades as his hands kept her upright. This was healing to them. Both of them joined together in a way that both knew how. Neither was good at explaining their feelings, they used to be, but time had changed them. This was how they expressed themselves to one another.

They were bound. They were each other's salvation and each other's doom. They saw with their souls and not with their eyes, because to dance with the beasts, you must penetrate their disguise.

Celeste had glanced over her shoulder at the beaten angel, his dark eyes penetrating her thoughts, with his black hair sticking to his forehead. And then it ended. He had pulled himself out of her. But then she was spun around again, this time, she was pressed up against him, his dark eyes staring into her own. God, she could get lost in those eyes.

Those dark veins made themselves know under his eyes and she realized what was to come next. He wasn't going to bring her to a climax by making love to her, no. He was going to bring her to her climax by taking her blood.

Her head lolled back as she exposed her throat to him.

It was like a bolt of lightning striking her as his fangs pierced her tender skin. Her hands reached up and took one of the hands that were holding her head. Her own fangs extended as she bit into the under side of his wrist. She felt the moan that shredded through him as they both drank from each other.

It felt like eternity, and then it happened. Her body clenched violently, forcing her to let go of his wrist and bite her tongue from screaming out. Damon still held her neck with his fangs.

"Damon.." She whispered breathlessly, her knees threatening to give out.

How could one man make her feel so unbelievablely human?

"Damon.."

He retracted his fangs the second time she called his name out. His ecstacy filled eyes dancing with the quench of thirst. It was surreal how dark his eyes could be. Without a word, she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her forehead against his. His hands traveled down to her upper thighs and gripped them tightly, picking her up. She wrapped her legs around him as they stayed under the hot water for as long as time would allow them.


	11. Saving Grace

_You're the only voice my heart can recognize._

_She was certain that she had fallen for the devil himself. She watched Damon crumble. She watched him fall to pieces. But damaged people were dangerous, because they knew they could survive and it had taken her fifty years, but she managed to show him that he might have been broken, but he was never defeated. They didn't agree on much. In fact, they didn't agree on anything. They fought all the time and challenged each other ever day. But despite their differences, they had one important thing in common. They were crazy about each other._

_For fifty years, their undead life together was an odd one. _

_But there was always one thing that would make her drop everything. And that was to protect him. Some vampire had hunted him down across Italy, to destroy him for killing his brother. He had told her to run. And in all rights, she should of ran. But she didn't. And she'd do it again to protect him if given the chance. The vampire had nearly ripped him to pieces. He was no longer recognizable - his perfectly sculpted features were torn up and skin was peeling away from bone._

_But she fought for him. She fought against the vampire, nearly getting herself killed in the process, but what was love, without a little bit of uncertainty and danger? She managed to get the upper hand and stake the vampire right through the heart. _

_Then she went to Damon._

_He was still lying where he had fallen. Her brightness hovered over him, shielding him as one shining hand reaching to touch his hair. Then she bent and kissed the dark head on the ground. At first, he didn't move and she thought she'd been too late. But then, the dark angel had sucked in a breath of life and Celeste had been his saving grace._

* * *

We are all affected by our pasts, but it is within our power not to let what we have done to dictate what we will do. True love is rare, and it's the only thing that gives life real meaning. Very seldom do you find your true match. When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving one's self, and one always ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance. What was the point in believing in something that might not be possible in the first place?

Those were the thoughts that were clouding the mind of Celeste as the vampire tried her best to find a proper masquerade mask. Klaus, the Original hybrid that had helped save her from the vampire hunter was hosting a masquerade ball and they were all invited. Including Elena. The only problem was Celeste didn't feel like going. She appreciated the offer, but Celeste didn't feel like being in the same room as Elena Gilbert.

She still didn't think what the hell was so special about the doppelganger. What high horse did she ride in on that made her a holy grail? What made her so god damn important that everyone had to bend over backwards and risk their lives for? To her, she seemed like an insecure bitch that wanted everything handed to her on a silver plate.

Elena reminded Celeste of King Arthur's Guinevere. Then she remembered exactly why she never liked Guinevere in the first place. She screws up, sleeps with her husband's best friend, causes the fall of a kingdom, then she doesn't have the guts to make at least one man happy, so she joins a damn nunnery and escapes from all of her problems, leaving everyone around her in a slavering mess. How incredibly spineless. That pretty much summed Elena Gilbert up.

"Did you make up your mind about going to the ball?" Damon whispered in her ear as his hand grazed her hip.

"Yes." She turned to him and held up a pretty intricate black mask.

For once, his vampire expression failed him. His response was right there on his face, in full view and easily read. He went from surprise to disbelief then hope and sheer, utter joy all within a split second of each other, then he let loose a huge smirk of delight and swept her into his arms, hugging her fiercely.

Its more than a simple belief that there is good and that it should fight the evil in the world. It's a personification of Light and Darkness at their most elemental level, as forces that are so absorbed with themselves that one cannot exist without the other though they constantly try to consume one another. One of the earliest representations of Light and Darkness was of Light being a massive black bull and Darkness being an enormous white bull.

The question of what we are can only be answered by ourselves. We each decide what we are by the life choices we make. How we were made, who are parents are, where we are from, the color of our skin, who we choose to love, all those things do not define us. Our actions define us, and will keep defining us until even after death.

_Soul mates do always find each other. _She thought. And then something truly bizarre happened. She could feel his touch through their eyes. She couldn't look away from him, no matter how much she tried.

True love is not a potion one person can swallow and another refuse to drink. It happens only when the souls of two join together to form one. The bond between them was like fire- it burned and consumed, almost painful in its intensity. Almost unbearable in its pleasure. They clung to each other, mouths pressed against skin, body against body. All that could be felt was their hearts beating in time together, as one. She couldn't tell where she ended and he began. Couldn't tell which pleasure was his and which was hers. That's what it was like to be bound to him.

Celeste leaned her head on his chest as they paid for the mask and left to go back home.

_Home._

It was such an odd word to her.

After all, she'd spent a hundred and so years never knowing what _home _really was.


	12. Masquerade: Part I

The mansion that Klaus had was enormous. And it was all decked out in Halloween decorations. Fake headstones lined the yard neatly, fake cobwebs was hanging loosely on the siding of the mansion, fog machines were making the night more spookier than it already was. Klaus had went all out. It was really a haunted mansion.

But then again, he was the Original, what would you expect?

"You made it." Klaus' voice floated to her ears as she began climbing the stairs and then a hand reached out.

Celeste took his hand as she climbed the rest of the stairs.

"How'd you know it was me?" She questioned as she reached the last step.

"I could pick you out of anywhere, love." Klaus winked at her.

Celeste smiled softly, unsure of if that was a compliment or a sadistic threat.

"Have you seen Damon?"

"Balcony in the back."

"Thanks."

She left without another word to Klaus as she tried her best to maneuver through the throngs of people. She wondered how many people could fit into this mansion before they started spilling out of every window and door. Just how many people did Klaus know? She was going to try and come up with an answer in her head, when she reached the balcony and just like Klaus had said to her, she could pick Damon out of any crowd, any place. Just the sight of him sent pleasure shooting through her. Leaning against the door frame, Celeste admired the man before her.

And then he turned around and those baby blue eyes of his sparkled intensely at her. He looked positively handsome in his Jack the Ripper costume. She was never a fan of top hats, but any hat that vampire put on, looked good on him.

"Oh dear me, I must have the wrong place." She fanned herself with her hand as she pretended not to notice that it was him. "The lover is going to kill me for looking at such a man as yourself. I've been a very bad girl." She batted her eyelashes at him.

He crossed the space between them and held her by her shoulders, grinning wickedly at her.

Celeste gave out an exasperated gasp and acted fearful. "Are-are you going to eat me?"

Damon bent his head down whispered dangerous low in her ear. "Do you want to be eaten?"

Every fiber of her body screamed _YE_S_!_

"No." Celeste grinned, watching Damon give her his famous pout.

Like a kid in a candy store that couldn't get what he wanted.

She left him standing there, in search for a drink, swishing her hips deliberately as she walked away. She could hear him growl low enough for her to hear. That brought a smirk to her lips. He'd have his way with her, sooner or later. That much, she was sure of.

Celeste had found the punch table a few moments later, deciding on an orange drink that she hoped was nothing but orange soda. She turned to find Damon again and someone ran into her. When she looked up into those brown eyes, she knew exactly who she'd run into.

Rage filled her as fury blossomed in her eyes.

"Watch where you're going."

"If you weren't standing in the way, I wouldn't have to."

Celeste's drink exploded in her hand, spilling everywhere. Her eyes turned dark at the doppelganger. "You really want to embarrass yourself here, in front of everyone you know?"

"It's not me that's going to get embarrassed."

"Like hell." Celeste growled, grabbing a fist full of the doppelganger's hair and smashing her head into the first wall she could find.

Soon, there were enough people looking at the two of them claw at each other. It must have brought the attention of Damon, Stefan, Caroline and Bonnie, because the next thing Celeste knew, was a pair of arms wrapping themselves around her waist.

"Let me go! Let me kill her!" She screamed, trying to peel herself away from the person that was holding her back.

"Stop." Damon's voice was in her ear. "_Stop_."

"Elena! Knock it off!" She heard Stefan growl.

"Both of you, KNOCK IT OFF." Caroline had yelled, causing both of them to freeze.

Caroline had to be the most pissed off of them all. She looked ready to murder everyone. But then again, her hair was messed up and her cheeks were flushed. One could only guess what the fight had interrupted.

With surprising strength, Celeste peeled out of Damon's arms and headed for the front door. Damon let her and was about to follow, when he turned to Elena.

"You and I will talk about this later."

He said it so dangerously low, that his eyes were ablaze with something that Elena couldn't figure out. And then, just like that, he was gone.

When he managed to get out the door, he called to Celeste.

"Wait!" He had to run to catch up to her and when he did, he noticed that she was crying. "Celeste, wait."

She didn't stop.

"_Stop_."

That made her stop in her tracks and she turned around to him.

"What's going on with the two of you?"

"Nothing."

"Liar." Damon chastised.

"You wouldn't get it."

"And why wouldn't I?"

"Because you don't see what I see, Damon!" She cried. "I see a sadistic bitch that is just like Katherine! You left me for Katherine. What makes me -" She had to stop herself.

"You think I'm going to leave you for Elena." Damon finished for her.

Like he always did.

"I've only ever loved one person, Damon. One. In my entire existence. And that was you. And even after all the shit I was put through and saw you get put through, I still held the flame for you. Because I knew that no one could love you the way I thought you should have been." A sob tore through her. "I come back here and I see it's 1864 all over again, you and Stefan at war for the doppelganger's heart, seeing who can one up each other and save the girl first."

She wiped a few tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. "She's had it out for me since the day I got here. Because, shockingly, she wants the both of you at her beck and call and no one - no one can get in the way of that. And I got in the way of it. I know you love her - I saw it in your eyes the night after I was kidnapped, when she brought the blood bags to your room. I also know she's in love with you, too."

"Celeste.." He took a step toward her, but she took a step back.

"I can't, Damon. I can't do this any longer. I can't keep wondering when she's going to stab me in my sleep. I just can't." She turned and walked. She didn't care that she didn't have a destination, she didn't care if she didn't have a place to stay. She needed time alone. She needed him to figure out what he really, truly wanted.


	13. Masquerade: Part II

When he reached back at the boarding house, Damon numbly noticed that Celeste and her bike wasn't there. That only made the anger worse in Damon as he pushed open the door and shouted.

"What the hell is your problem?"

Stefan stood in front of Elena.

"Back down, little brother." Damon said it dangerously low, a threat in between those lines he spoke. "She's a vampire now, you do not get to protect her." Damon pushed his brother out of the way, his eyes ablaze as he looked at Elena.

"_Answer me_."

"What?" Elena argued. "Just because your blood turned me, you have power over me? I don't think so."

"That's exactly what it means, Elena." Damon growled. "And I'm telling you to answer me. What. is. your. problem."

"Damon-"

"Shut up, Stefan." Damon looked at his brother. "This is between her and I." He then looked back at Elena. "Is this because you're just pissed off you that someone else told you what we were all thinking?"

"I don't like her."

"She doesn't like you, either." Damon said tightly. "Next excuse."

"I think she's bad for you."

"Like you would know what's good and bad for me."

"I do know."

"Is that so?" Damon crossed his arms over his chest. "Go on then, I'd love to hear this excuse."

He saw Elena boil under the surface, trying to figure out if she was going to pop or not, gave him little satisfaction.

"Because I love you!" Elena blurted out.

He had a feeling that was it, but that still didn't stop the wave of shock that blew through him. And he was pretty sure Stefan was fuming below the surface. He could feel the anger dripping off his little brother.

After several moments of silence, Stefan spoke, shattering the silence.

"Get out."

'What?" Elena choked.

"You heard me." Stefan cocked his head toward the door. "Get out. We've been fools to think you're any different than Katherine. And you've just proved us right."

Elena looked between the two brothers, trying to guess which one was going to crack first and tell her it was all a joke. But it never came. And Elena Gilbert felt so alone in the moment. And then she ran.

Both brothers exhaled a long, deep breath and then looked at each other.

"Let's go find Celeste."

Damon raised an eyebrow at his brother.

"If she loves you enough to make you pissed off enough to stand up to Elena, then she's a keeper." Stefan said.

Damon chuckled. He'd been fighting to be who he was all his life. What's the point of being who he is, if he can't have the person who was worth all the fighting for?

* * *

When someone cries so hard that it hurts their throat, it is out of frustration or knowing that no matter what you can do or attempt to do can change the situation. When you feel like you need to cry, when you want to just get it out, relieve some of the pressure from the inside - that is true pain. Because no matter how hard you try or how bad you want to, you can't. That pain just stays in place. Then, if you are lucky, one small tear may escape from those eyes that water constantly. That one tear, that tiny, salty, droplet of moisture is a means of escape. Although it's just a small tear, it is the heaviest thing in the world. And it doesn't do a damn thing to fix anything.

Sometimes she wondered if there's something wrong with her. Perhaps she's spent too long in the company of her literary romantic heroes, and consequently her ideals and expectations are far too high. A familiar stabbing pain, just to the left of the center of her sternum, oddly soothed her. Her heart only ever had one thought, one want. One need. Despite all, in spite of all... all her heart has ever wanted is him. But now, there was nothing but emptiness. She'd never have peace of mind. Nothing.

And then there are the rare ones who know love, who understand it. Who freely give of themselves, demanding only a return of that love,that trust. And she had so foolishly given over every piece of her. Her body, her blood, her soul and most importantly; her heart.

"Celeste... my black bird."

The vampire stood up from the log of wood and whirled around, to see both brothers. See, now she was just hallucinating. Shaking her head clear of Katherine thoughts, she watched as Stefan stayed where he was, but Damon cleared the distance between them in a few strides.

"Damon?"

He answered her by smiling but it was the warrior's smile, the brilliant one he turned on and off almost before you were sure you had seen it.

"I look at you, and I see the most beautiful woman on the face of the earth. Inside and out, you are beautiful. I know you better than anyone else could ever know you, because I can see into your thoughts and read your memories. The very light in you, your tremendous capacity for loving, humbles me." His thumb stroked her cheek like a feather dancing on her skin. "You have made me ashamed of the wasted years. You have made me acknowledge that no darkness has ever been deep enough to extinguish my personal knowledge of love. Everything I could want in eternity is possible because of you."

And then his lips were on hers and she was lost to the world. Without stopping , Damon had swept her up into his arms.

They stood in the forest clearing kissing until they heard Stefan called "Get a room."

Damon was the first to pull back and laugh.

It surprised Celeste.

He was laughing.

_He was laughing at Stefan!_

She raised an eyebrow, first at Stefan and then at Damon. "Are you feeling okay?"

Damon responded by nuzzling his face into the crook of her neck.


	14. A New Problem

It had been a whole week since Elena Gilbert got kick out of the boarding house - and the brother's lives - and so far, things had been going good. Damon and Stefan were getting as much along as they could, what with being brothers and all. And Celeste kept the place running smoothly. Life at the Salvatore house was good.

On any other night but tonight.

A major storm was rolling into Mystic Falls and Damon was gathering extra blood bags while Stefan was helping Celeste move the furniture in the living room so they could have a big area to lay or sit, cluttered with all the lanterns, flashlights and candles they could find.

"Since we're all vampires here, why do we need all these blankets and flashlights?" Stefan had asked once while Celeste was setting up candles on a small table.

"Because Stefan," Celeste had answered him. "You try sitting on a hard floor, vampire or not, without any cushion for a long period of time."

The wind had to be blowing nearly sixty miles an hour and every human was boarded up in their homes, ready to wait out the storm. Which could be days, by the way the weather people on the TV were talking.

"I got as much as I could before everyone started to panic when they noticed the power wasn't going to come back on right away." Damon had said, the second he walked in the door, holding two duffle bags full of blood.

The power had went out at the hospital, and the generators didn't help, since they were faulty, so Damon had taken the opportunity to refill the stash of blood they had in the basement. Celeste had taken up residence in the middle of the floor, with a knife in one hand and a cucumber in the other. Both brothers had deducted that she could very well castrate them both as they watched her cut the skin off the vegetable.

Both brothers shuddered silently.

"Okay, come on you two - movie time!"

Damon and Stefan sat down, but kept their distance.

Celeste noticed this.

"What?"

Both brothers gave a glance at the knife and food in her hands.

Celeste followed their line of sight, a small grin coming to her lips.

"Oh." She turned to look at the brothers and then set the knife and vegetable on the table and reached for the DVD player buttons. Pressing play, the classic tale of _Gone with the Wind _started playing.

Both brothers groaned.

"_Now what_?"

"How many times have you watched this movie?" Damon asked.

"Only a hundred times." Celeste shrugged.

"_Only a hundred._" Damon mocked, glancing at Stefan.

He groaned a second later as Celeste's fist caught him in the gut. Stefan looked away, hiding his half smirk, half grin. This is what it had led to, since Elena Gilbert left the brothers, the three vampires sitting around, watching movies and lounging about. Celeste had a knack for making the brothers enjoy each other's company. Stefan was actually glad to have a distraction for a change. Celeste was slowly becoming like a sister to them.

_A bit of Salvatore incest anyone?_ Stefan's mind blurted out.

No.

That was bad.

Stefan refused to think like that.

He knew exactly what Celeste was very much capable of doing to a person if she didn't like them. And Stefan had a fair thought that if he got any where near her, she'd tear him to shreds and Damon would sew the pieces back together just so he could rip him to shreds too. She was like a piano in a country where everyone has had their hands cut off. She could have had a sign hanging around her neck that read: _touch and get cut into bits _and it would have been enough. Her kind is very dangerous when they're friendly. You never know when they're gonna snap.

Celeste looked over at Damon, his eyes betraying his interest in the movie. She slowly scooted close to him and slipped her body under his arm, melting right into him. All masculine, hard-bodied and sensual, he was a deadly weapon sent by the gods to drive women mad, and a walking billboard for all things wicked and carnal. He should have come with a label: _Orgasms! Get your orgasms here. Hot and juicy! Just how you like 'em!_

The movie was about forty minutes in when something began pounding on the door. Stefan was the first to move, then Damon and then Celeste.

Before anyone had a chance to get to the door, it flew open and what could have been described as a body builder stepped through, his trench coat dripping rain on the hardwood floor. He stood calm against the suburban storm raging just outside, a few feet from him. The thunder screamed across the sky; it slapped the clouds into a heated turmoil that flew towards the south.

Celeste's mouth dropped open.

"Vane?"

The body builder stepped further into the dimly lit room, his features casting a dangerous shadow. He lifted his head, piercing emerald green eyes sparkled.

"Raven!"

He moved like a tiger; twitching and bunching his shoulders. His head angled back and forth to look her over, and as he did, his biceps tightened. His dark hair was chin length and concealed most of his face. His mouth was wide in a disturbing smile that displayed his perfectly white teeth; the upper and lower canines sharpened to fine points that could have made any shark jealous. Celeste ran to the giant and hugged him. The werewolf had picked her clear up off the floor and held her in a vice grip of a hug.

Both brothers looked between each other.

Slowly, the werewolf had put Celeste down on her feet again. "I didn't think you'd gotten my call."

"Call?" Damon questioned.

"Yeah, I asked Vane to look into that vampire hunter, see if could dig up anything." Celeste had said, turning half way to look at Damon.

"Speaking of which," Vane said gruffly. "That vampire hunter of your's isn't dead."

"Say what?"

"Or at least, that one is dead, but there's several more."

"Oh that's fucking brilliant." Damon cursed, throwing his hands up in the air like a two year old not getting his way.


	15. Trust Issues

Celeste and Vane had taken up residence at the foyer table, while Damon and Stefan were speaking quietly.

"I don't trust him."

"You don't trust anyone."

"With good reason." Damon snapped back.

"He's a friend of Celeste."

"Did you see the size of him?"

"He's a friend of Celeste."

"He's a werewolf!"

"He's a friend of Celeste."

Damon glared at his brother.

"I know he's a friend of Celeste."

"Then you know, just as well as I hope I do, that she's very much capable of figuring out who she can trust and who she can't."

Stefan had a point.

Damon refused to admit that. There was no way in hell his little brother was smarter than Damon.

"Have you ever met a man that could take advantage of Celeste?"

"No."

Stefan shrugged his shoulders. "Then there's your answer."

Damon looked toward Vane and Celeste, watching as they were laughing with each other. Instead of waiting, Damon walked up to Vane.

"I've been bitten by a werewolf before, so let's get this out in the open. Are you a friend or an enemy?"

"Damon-"

"Shhh." Damon looked at Celeste, then back at Vane.

Vane had looked between Celeste and Damon before he stood, holding his hand out for Damon to take. "I'm neither friend or foe, vampire. I'm a friend of Celeste's. Whether or not you take good care of her, will determine if I"m friend or enemy."

Damon reluctantly shook the werewolf's hand. "Fair enough."

Fate does not seek our consent. But that didn't stop the feelings that Damon had signed his soul over to the Devil the moment his hand hit the werewolf's. Once lucky, twice confident, and thrice dead.

"In each of us, two natures are at war – the good and the evil. All our lives the fight goes on between them, and one of them must conquer. But in our own hands lies the power to choose – what we want most to be we are." Celeste said, standing. "Each one of us in this room has it. One good, One evil side. We just have to walk the path to see which one is more present than the other." She looked at Damon. "If you trust me, trust Vane."

"Okay." Damon said finally. "But if I die - I'm coming back to haunt the both of you."

Celeste grinned. For she had discovered that as well as the evil web there was another. This too bound spirits together, but not in a tangle, it was a patterned web and one could see the silver pattern when the sun shone upon it. It seemed much frailer than the dark tangle, that had a hideous strength, but it might not be so always, not in the final reckoning. Good and Evil are very hard to explain or understand. I'm sure that evil exists, but it is hard to isolate. Good and evil are intertwined and impossible to separate. They are not completely opposites and in fact are often one and the same. So how could Damon be so untrustworthy of people? It was a simple question that was always nagging at the back of her mind.

Damon had pulled her aside, raising an eyebrow at her as soon as they were out of eyesight.

"Do you trust him?"

"Yes." She had said with absolute clarity. "We've moved in and out of darkness and light all our lives. Right now, let's just be in the light."

Life is filled with unanswered questions, but it is the courage to seek those answers that continues to give meaning to life. You can spend your life wallowing in despair, wondering why you were the one who was led towards the road strewn with pain, or you can be grateful that you are strong enough to survive it. A complete stranger has the capacity to alter the life of another irrevocably. This domino effect has the capacity to change the course of an entire world. That is what life is; a chain reaction of individuals colliding with others and influencing their lives without realizing it. A decision that seems minuscule to you, may be monumental to the fate of the world. All that is left to bring you pain, are the memories. If you face those, you'll be free. You can't spend the rest of your life hiding from yourself; always afraid that your memories will incapacitate you, and they will if you continue to bury them.

"You still don't trust him, do you?" Celeste said, eyeing Damon curiously. She snaked her arms around his waist and pulled him close to her.

"I don't trust a lot of people, with good reason."

"Do you trust me?" She asked, leaning her head on his chest.

"Of course." He said it just as fast as she had, with the same amount of clarity as she had done.

Celeste had stood on her toes and kissed him with everything she had in her. Damon had kissed her back. But it wasn't a normal kiss. There are many different types of kisses. There's a passionate kiss of farewell - like the kind Rhett gave Scarlett when he went off to war. The kiss of I-can't-really-be-with-you-but-I-want-to-be - like with Superman and Lois Lane. There's the first kiss - one that is gentle and hesitant, warm and vulnerable. And then there's the kiss of possession - which was how Damon kissed her then.

It went beyond passion, beyond desire. His kiss was full of longing, need, and love, like all those other kisses. But, it was also filled with promises and pledges, some of which seemed sweet and tender while others seemed dangerous and exciting. He was taking her over. Staking a claim on his territory.

He seized her as boldly as the tiger captured his prey. There was no escape. And she didn't want to. She would have happily died in his clutches. She was his. And he made sure she knew it. Her heart burst with a thousand beautiful blooms, all tiger lilies. And she knew with a certainty more powerful than anything she'd ever felt before that they belonged together. And there was no force that could take them down. There was no evil that could take them out.

Alone, they were powerless.

But together, they were _indestructible_.


	16. Confrontation

"And yes, I'll admit, I am jealous. I'm jealous of every minute you spend with him, of every concerned expression you send his way, of every tear shed, of every glance, every touch, and every thought. I want to rip you to pieces and purge him from your mind and from your heart. But I can't." Celeste had admitted.

She was standing on the Gilbert porch, with Elena standing inside, refusing to invite her in. So she spoke her mind from the other side of the threshold.

"You sit there and you're in love with Damon, but you're also in love with Stefan... Doesn't that sound familiar to you?"

"No." Elena answered angrily.

"No?" Celeste raised an eyebrow. "That's exactly the same thing Katherine did. You can't have them both - you're only stringing them along and just because I'm with Damon and I've known him since we were human kids, you regret that you haven't told him and you're pissed at me, because I'm making him happy. Am I wrong?"

She crossed her arms over her chest. "You chose Stefan, if I'm not mistaken. To have regret is to be disappointed with yourself and your choices. Those who are wise, see their life-like stepping-stones across a great river. Everyone misses a stone from time to time. No one can cross the river without getting wet. Success is measured by your arrival on the other side, not on how muddy your shoes are. Regrets are only felt by those who do not understand life's purpose. They become so disillusioned that they stand still in the river and do not take the next leap."

When Elena refused to speak any more, Celeste continued. "Love is not to be messed with. Love is not a consequence. Love is not a choice. Love is a thirst. A need as vital to the soul as water is to the body. Love is a precious drought that not only soothes a parched throat, but it vitalizes a man. It fortifies him enough that he is willing to slay dragons for the woman who offers it. Take that drought of love from me and I will shrivel to dust. To take it from a man dying of thirst and give it to another whilst he knows you were going to do it, is a cruelty I never thought you capable of."

_But then again, you're a Petrova doppelgänger, they're all capable of it. _She thought bitterly.

"Are you done?" Elena had said, cocking an eyebrow at her.

"_Am I done?_" Oh, Celeste wanted to smack that look right off the bitch's face. "I don't understand how everyone could have believed you were the warm, affectionate, and tender-hearted person that I had read in people's minds. You're obviously as prickly as a porcupine and any man who comes close to you will end up with a face full of quills."

She turned to leave, having said what she needed to the doppelgänger and rode off back to the Salvatore boarding house.

* * *

When she arrived back to the house, Damon was waiting for her. He waited until she got in the house and shut the door before he made his move. He then put both hands on the door on either side of her head and leaned in close, pinning her against it. Celeste trembled like a downy rabbit caught in the clutches of a wolf. The wolf came closer. He bent his head and began nuzzling my cheek. The problem was…she wanted the wolf to devour her.

He kissed her wildly, overwhelming her like a giant wave rushing to shore. She was soon lost in the turbulent grasp of his embrace and yet…she knew she was safe. His wild kiss drove her, pushed her, asked her questions she was unwilling to consider. But she was cherished by this dark Poseidon, and though he had the power to crush her utterly, to drown her in the purple depths of his wake, he held her aloft, separate. His passionate kiss changed. It gentled and soothed and entreated.

But Damon wasn't the only one that had passion. She answered with a passion he didn't expect and he was lost. In that moment their hearts beat as one. In that moment he knew she loved him and it was unconditional. For once in his life _he got the girl. _

Together they drifted towards a safe harbor. The god of the sea set her down securely on a sandy beach and steadied her as she trembled. Effervescent tingles shot through her limbs delighting her with surges of sparkling sensation like sandy toes tickled by bubbly waves. Finally, the waves moved away and she felt her Poseidon watching me from a distance. They looked at each other knowing they were forever changed by the experience. They both knew that she would always belong to the sea and that she would never be able to part from it and be whole again.

Hell, she thought of Damon Salvatore as a lot characters, but Poseidon was the closest she had ever gotten.

They looked at each other for a minute, not saying anything, but she could feel the air between them shift. It became thick, sultry, and tangible, like when the air changes right before a storm. She could feel its power envelop her as it brushed across her skin. Even thought she couldn't see it, she knew a storm was coming, ready to test them for everything they were worth.

She stared into his handsome face and let those feelings overwhelm her and in that fleeting time, she felt the ghost of their emotional connection. It was just a mere whisper, like a scent on the breeze that blows past you too quickly, bringing with it a memory of something you can't quite grasp. She wasn't sure if it was a trick of the light, a flicker of something real, or something she fabricated, but it captured all of her attention.

She could feel the warmth of his presence as if a soft blanket had been wrapped around her soul, around her heart. It held her and protected her. It sheltered her and she knew she wasn't alone in this world any more. He had a look upon him that said; _This _is something you can't deny. You _belong _with me. You're mine.

And she didn't mind it at all.


	17. The Tale of The Five

"Where were you?" Damon had whispered in her ear.

"I was -I was..." Where was she again?

Damon had lifted his head as soon as he asked the question and she was gone, his blue eyes sparkling like diamonds that were so far out of reach.

"Careful, _my black bird, _you're showing everyone how tongue tied you get in the presence of a male."

That broke Celeste out of her trance as she snorted at Damon.

"Screwing anything that has legs is being a male?"

"No, that's actually being a vampire. Being a male is being able to be around you for long periods of time."

The door of the boarding house burst in and Klaus waltzed right in, carrying a stake.

"We have a bit of a problem, mate." Klaus announced as he handed Damon the stake he'd been holding. Celeste looked over Damon's shoulder to see the markings on it. "It seems our vampire hunter friend was one of The Five."

"The Five?" Celeste raised an eyebrow.

"The Brotherhood of The Five was a group of highly skilled vampire hunters and I had the misfortune of meeting them in the 12th century. We fed and turned people while on our way, but with the bloodshed, came exposure. I wasn't discreet, to say the least."

"So these hunters have been around for nine hundred years?" Damon quipped.

"Apparently." Klaus said as he took a sit on the end of the couch in the living room. "But that vampire hunter was the first I've seen since, kinda makes you wonder what they've been up to all these years. Rebekah was in love with one of them and well... that ended up to be our downfall, as they staked us in our sleep."

"Except you. Since you're a hybrid."

Klaus looked at Celeste with pride. "Precisely, my lovely. The Five holds the answers to everyone's problems."

"How so?" Damon asked.

"Because the tattoo that The Five had was a map.. to the location where there is a weapon, a weapon in which no vampire can survive."

"A weapon?" Damon asked. "A weapon that can solve everyone's problems?"

"Precisely." Klaus nodded. "But think of the weapon being more of a ... cure, than anything else."

"A cure?" Celeste raised her eyebrow. "A cure for what?"

"A cure for _vampirisim_, sweetheart."

Damon's mouth dropped right after Celeste's did.

"And why haven't you found it?" Celeste asked, a moment after recovering.

"Because, when I ended their lives, and they drew their last breath, the tattoo faded away and the brotherhood extinct until that vampire hunter showed up in town."

"How do we find it?"

"We need to finish the puzzle, and to do that, we need the key to the puzzle. The key to the weapon, which if I recall correctly, is a sword that holds the answer to the map."

If Celeste could have fainted right then and there, the vampire would of. There was a cure. Or at least, that's what someone that has betrayed the brothers in the past says. Something deep down inside of her wanted to trust Klaus and believe him. The logical part of her brain screamed that she was an idiot and to not give him any satisfaction because he called her _sweetheart _and _lovely_.

Life is filled with unanswered questions, but it is the courage to seek those answers that continues to give meaning to life. You can spend your life wallowing in despair, wondering why you were the one who was led towards the road strewn with pain, or you can be grateful that you are strong enough to survive it.

Bad things can happen, and often do - but they only take up a few pages of your story; and anyone can survive a few pages.

Sometimes in life, from out of a myriad of prosaic decisions like what to eat and where to sleep and how to dress, a true crossroads is revealed. In these moments, when the fog of relative irrelevancy lifts and fate rolls out a demand for free will, there is only left or right – no option of four-by-fouring into the underbrush between two paths, no negotiating with the choice that has been presented. You must answer the call and pick your way. And there is no reverse.

She feared she was going to go down the wrong path.

Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant filled with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don't always like. Sometimes life has a cruel sense of humor, giving you the thing you always wanted at the worst time possible. This was that moment where Celeste wanted to scream bloody murder at Fate and Life in general. She wanted to stay a vampire - she wanted to revel in it. But on the other hand, she had witnessed Damon's humanity and how he missed being human. She couldn't go on living as a vampire if he were human.

"So how do we find this sword, so that we can find this so called cure?"


	18. Defiance

"Damon!" Celeste was actually running at a human speed to catch up to him. "Damon! Stop!"

He did, finally. But he never turned toward her.

"I can't believe you'd want to go find this 'cure'."

"I don't." She stepped in front of him, taking his hands in her own. "But I'd do it for you. I know how badly you want to be a human. I know how much you miss it. I can read your thoughts, Damon." Long dormant feelings poured through her dried-up limbs and wound through her, slowly filling the emptiness. Like an irrigated field, she felt myself blossom and grow with new vigor. He was the sun, and the tenderness he showed her was life-giving water.

He dug so deeply into her sentiments that in search of interest, he found love, because by trying to make her love him, he ended up falling in love with her. Celeste, for her part, loved him more and more as she felt his love increasing, and that was how in the ripeness of autumn she began to believe once more in the youthful superstition of True Love. Madly in love after so many years of not being near each other, they enjoyed the miracle of living with each other as much at the table as in bed.

"I don't sit up in my room pining away, writing love poems in a worn out journal. I'm not a dreamer. I'm a fighter. I'm a man of action. When something needs to be done, I do it. When I feel something, I act on it. I don't see any reason why Stefan deserves to get the girl of his dreams and I don't. It doesn't seem fair that this happens to me twice."

"You have me." She said, with the most absolute clarity, that it almost broke his heart. "I may not be what you want. But I've seen your dreams, your wishes and your heart's true desire. I may not be Katherine, but you and I both know that Elena is never going to make up her mind and she's just going to string you two along." She took Damon's face in her hands. "Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could."

Damon let his hands rest on her wrists as he looked at her.

"Elena is weak. She likes to hide from the face that she's now a vampire and that her mortal life has been cut short. Anyone can hide. It's the easiest thing in the world. Facing up to things though, and working through them, that's what makes you strong. Katherine was manipulative. You can either let the fact that they both screwed you over destroy you, or make you stronger. It's all up to you." Celeste said, holding Damon's eyes. "Do you know why I want to fight for you? It gives me strength to have somebody to fight for; I can never fight for myself, but, for others, I can kill. Just know this, Damon Salvatore, you can build walls all the way to the sky and I will find a way to fly above them. You can try to pin me down with a hundred thousand arms, but I will find a way to resist. I love you and I have loved you for a hundred and seventy plus years. Remember. They cannot take that away from you."

For once in his life, Damon Salvatore had nothing to say. No witty comeback, no smart ass comment. Nothing. It was an odd sensation too. She looked so beautiful in the moonlight, but it wasn't only the way she looked, it was what was inside her, everything from her intelligence and courage to her wit, and the special smile she gave only to him. He would slay a dragon, if there were such a thing, just to see that smile. He knew he would never want anyone else for as long as he lived. He would rather spend the rest of his life alone than with someone else. He would rather spend eternity alone, than with Elena. There could be no one else. There would be no one else.

Damon Salvatore never thought he'd do what he was about to do.

"What are you doing?"

"Kneeling before a goddess."

"I'm not a goddess."

"You are." He said. "A goddess, a princess, a queen. As a soldier, I pledge myself to your service. As a man, I ask to sit at your feet and worship you. Ask to me to do anything for you and I will do it."

Celeste was positive she was blushing scarlet red.

"Answer me one question, truthfully and I won't ask anymore."

"Name it."

"Do you miss being human?"

"Yes." Damon said after a moment. "But I've come to terms with never finding a solution to it, so what's the point? I like reveling in being a vampire."

There are things you do sometimes, actions that you take by obeying sudden impulses, without stopping for even a fraction of a second to think, and then you spend the rest of your life either lamenting it or thanking yourself for it. They are rare, unique, and perfect moments.

This was one of those moments.

Damon got up off his knees and took her head in his hands and kissed her under the moonlight. It was picture perfect.

Even if neither of them knew that Elena had arrived at the boarding house and had listened to their whole conversation and had watched the whole entire thing.


	19. Blood and Fire

"Hold on," Celeste held her hands up. "You're telling me that the sword, and the cure are guarded by these kitsune, fox looking things?"

Klaus only nodded.

"It's not something that is to be taken lightly. These kitsune are dangerous creatures, they can steal your soul with their eyes behind their backs."

Celeste raised an eyebrow.

"I don't make these things up, lovely."

"Quit with the names, Klaus. I'm immune to your tricks."

She was sitting with the hybrid pain in the ass, gathering information, since everyone else - Stefan and Elena mostly - were so hell bent on leaving right after they'd been told about the cure. But Celeste was skeptical. She wanted to know what she'd be getting herself into, before she walked into the depths of hell with the Original pain in the ass. She didn't trust anything that had a pulse.

She didn't think that there could be a cure for being a vampire, if that was the case, why wasn't it in the drugstore as an over-the-counter medicine? Someone could make millions. She had glanced over at Damon, who was, with all the right in the world, standing in the corner of the little room with his arms folded over his chest, watching them intently. He would work with the Original, but that didn't mean he had to trust him. For a moment, as Damon glanced toward Celeste, their gazes met and something electric passed between them. It made Celeste tingle all over, that look did.

There are two types of visions. Those that will happen no matter what, and those that can be stopped. Now more than ever, she wished she could tell them apart. She felt it in her bones, the feeling of something bad happening as soon as you let your guard down. It was as if the world was saying; _Surrender your expectations. Surrender your doubts. Surrender your fears. Surrender your strengths. Surrender your anger. __**Surrender your control**__. _And none of them were going to back down without a fight. And that, is what would lead to their downfall.

Celeste stood, unable to take either of the vampires looking at her curiously. "Vane?!" She went off in search of her furry friend.

"Yes, Raven?"

Celeste stopped short as Vane stepped in front of her.

"Do you have them?"

"You mean your infamous weapons of mass destruction?"

Celeste smirked. "Precisely."

By this time, everyone had gathered around. Damon, Klaus, Stefan, Elena, Caroline, Bonnie, Tyler and Jeremy were all looking on with curiosity Vane held out a sheath and Celeste took the sais from their protective case. She twirled them around, liking how they just fit with her hands, much like a glove.

"What in hell are those?" Bonnie asked.

"A Sai." Celeste flipped one with her wrist and held the handle out to Bonnie. "The Sai is a traditional Okinawan martial arts weapon. Only these bad boys are much more special than that."

"And why's that?"

Celeste turned to look at Klaus with a smirk and then drove one of the Sais into his chest. "Because, _sweetheart, _not even you are protected from them. They've been spelled, witch crafted whatever you want to call them, in every magical poison possible. If I'm going to go along with this plan to track down these kitsunes and find this cure, you bet your ass I'm going to bring them." Celeste leaned down to whisper in Klaus' ear. "I've been betrayed too many times to trust anyone that I don't know. No hard feelings, right _lovely_? You understand, don't you?"

The vampire pulled the sai out and watched the blood run off the sai, leaving it perfectly clean. It was safe to say that everyone was just a little more scared of her now. Damon couldn't understand how or even where his vampire lover had gotten weapons from, but then again, that's what happens when you spent nearly a hundred years away from said person. It was weird, to think of her as a warrior. She was so soft and kind when she was a human. A hundred years on her own had hardened her - just like it had hardened him.

"After everything I've been through, the last thing I'm going to apologize for is my paranoia."

"No one asked you to." Damon had replied, wrapping his arm around Celeste and together, they walked out onto the back porch, away from everyone else.

"What happened to you those hundred years we were apart? When there's a danger, or some kind of mission, you turn into this bad ass Zena, warrior princess kind of a woman. Not that I mind, mind you. I would just like to know what has gotten you all hot and bothered."

Celeste scratched at her forearms. "It back in the 1920's - a gang of vampire hunters, or what I thought were hunters, were looking to expose all of the supernatural creatures that I'd been staying with. There were a few werewolves, a few other vampires, some voodoo doers and even some witches. We all lived peacefully under one roof for the most part. Vane was one of them, Kane was another werewolf and Zane was like a brother to me and foolishly, I had gotten captured and those three werewolves came looking for me." She swiped at her eyes, wiping the tears that had fallen.

"They came looking for me and found me after I don't know how many days of being tortured and vervained, and we all would have gotten out safely, if I hadn't been so weak - my legs wouldn't even stand straight, Damon. The vervain had nearly killed me by itself. And I tripped over a rock. Zane was the one that was helping me, but he called Vane back and told him to take me back to the mansion and he shifted, right after he handed me over to his brother ... and that was the last I ever saw of him. Vane and Kane had held a memorial and I never felt so defeated in my entire undead life. After that, I had one of the most powerful witches in the mansion spell those Sais for me, so that nothing I fought them with would win."

Damon had taken her into his arms and let her cry in his shirt, letting her mourn the loss of her friend.


	20. Into The Shadows

Weather is mathematical, in a certain very basic sense... warming and cooling the air simply means controlling the speed at which atomic structures vibrate. In any normal situation, no matter how dire, atomic structures vibrate in harmony, in groups, like a grand and glorious choir. In storm situations, there is dissonance.

This was complete and utter noise. There weren't bands of heat and cold; there weren't winds, exactly. Or if there were, they couldn't sustain themselves; they began and died and shifted in the blink of an eye. Hot and cold vibrations were jamming up against each other at the subatomic level, not just as a leading edge of an event, but interwoven.

"What the hell..." Celeste whispered, appalled.

This wasn't nature gone crazy.

This was nature without any mind at all.

It was like mother nature knew of a battle that none of the vampires did and were trying to warn them. They had all come to terms, with the fact that they'd have to work together, to find the cure. So Stefan and Elena were together - again. Celeste had rolled her eyes at that one, but said nothing at all. _For now._

Can you imagine what ten people in two cars is like?

Unfortunately for Celeste, she got stuck in the car with Elena.

Mother nature was really screwing with her.

A bolt of lightning shot down near the rolling vehicle, but Damon never once lost control of the SUV. She pushed the button on the walkie talkie, holding it down as she spoke.

"Anyone got a clue where we're headed?" She asked, glancing at the SUV in front of theirs as her finger let off the button.

"Patience, _sweetheart_. It's a long way to the edge of the world." Came in from the other side.

"Fuck your patience, Klaus." She snapped, catching Damon's smirk from the corner of her eye. "You don't know what it's like to be stuck in a car with three guys and a doppelbitch."

She could _feel _the doppelganger's eyes throw daggers at her for as long as they'd been riding in the damn car. There was silence on the other end, until the walkie talkie came back on, with Klaus laughing.

"_Just a little farther_."

"Got it." Damon replied.

It was about four hours before Damon stopped the SUV behind the other and everyone climbed out. Celeste's boots squished the ground, where her Sais were tucked safely. It was foggy and all around Halloween creepy.

"Where's Damon?"

"Right behind you." A hand touched her side gently.

Celeste leaned over to whisper at to him. "I can't feel you."

"Neither can I. I think it's the fog - it's screwing with the extra vampire abilities." He hugged her close to him, kissing the top of her head. "Stay close and stay alive."

He left her then, to walk ahead with Klaus, his body disappearing as soon as it started away from her. The fog was so thick that you could of cut it with a knife. Another hand slipped against her back and she swung around. Vane was silently shaking with laughter.

"This is not funny!" She whispered harshly. "I can't see, I can't hear, I can't _feel_ anything."

Icy wind whipped her hair around her face, tearing at her light t-shirt. Oak leaves swirled among the rows of rocks, and the trees lashed their branches together in frenzy. It had only been a few minutes since she'd stepped out of the truck and her hands were cold, her lips and cheeks were numb, but she stood facing the screaming wind directly. The werewolf had walked behind her and she knew that he had a reason why.

"So where is this place that we're supposed to go to find the cure?"

"It's called the Dark Dimension." Klaus had said from somewhere in front of her.

She shut up then, lost in thought, walking in sync with the rest of the group. Even though the fog was thicker than thieves, Celeste could make out the shape of Elena and she was standing very close to another shape she knew very well: Damon. Her hands balled into fists. No one would notice the doppelbitch had gone missing through this fog, would they? She wondered. She could take her out with one blow - given that Elena was a few centuries short of her strength and power level.

Although she was ashamed to admit it now, the darkness in Damon had been the largest part of his allure. It was such an anomaly, a contrast to what she'd known from life. It had made him dangerous. Exciting. Sexy. He had suffered. And there was nothing sexy or thrilling about that.

Vane had been eyeing her closely. _Welcome to the wonderful world of jealousy, _He thought.

Damon, meanwhile, was lost in the thoughts of his own mind. His legs walked with the rest of the group, but his mind was a million steps behind. She had told him that she loved him, telepathically, of course, right before they reached the Hell they were walking into. He had known that, but hearing it in the traditional phrase had affected him in new and blinding ways. Ways that made him believe that he could do anything. Anything she needed or wanted him to do. Because her loving him meant so much more than him loving her.

It was as if she knew something bad was going to happen.

"Where are we going, anyway? Where is this place that leads to the Dark Dimension?"

She had heard Elena asked through the fog.

"Up shit creek sans the paddle, doppelganger. I'd count your minutes, you might just be the first one to get eaten."

Vane beside her smirked.

And then there was a furious snarl that ripped through the fog like a double edged blade, causing everyone to freeze. Then, a veil appeared and then a threshold.

A boy with a rainbow for hair stepped from around the threshold, his eyes narrowing.

"How'd you get here?"

"Ask him." Celeste said, pointing a finger at Klaus.

Shinichi growled at her.

"What do you want?"

When no one else answered, Celeste did.

"Some of us want the vampire cure. The rest just came for backup."

Once again, the kitsune growled at her.

And that made her even more angrier.

"One more growl and I swear I'm going to geld you with a spoon."

Shinichi had looked at her with dark, soulless eyes. "The weight of the dead is heavier than the pounds of the mind."

"Fuck you."

Damon had pulled her back from wanting to attack the kitsune.

"Calm down." His actual voice filtered through her mind.


	21. Silence

"You are awfully annoying for someone that's lived for nearly two centuries."

"You don't know me."

"But I do."

"Then you'll know my next words: Fuck. Off."

Who knew two little words could piss off a kitsune so much that he practically tore her arm off? The kitsune had caught her off guard. Celeste had been thrown back, onto the mushy ground, with the fox thing standing over her, growling and snarling at her. She saw it in his eyes, that animatistic blood lust and he was ready to snap her neck. His head went down and at the last minute, she bobbed her head to the left, so that he stabbed the ground she'd hit. He ate grass and was only more pissed off. And then, in a flash that she hardly recognized, the shape of Damon and Vane came into view, throwing the kitsune off her.

The blood soaked mud seemed to make Damon go crazy. He began moving like quicksilver, like a leaping flame, like some animal with reflexes far faster than Shinichi's. Now there was a sword in his hand, undoubtedly given to him by Vane, and the sword slashed at the kitsune's many tails, even as they reached out to trap him. And then he was airborne, leaping over Celeste, snarling like a feral animal that had been let loose.

This time Damon's balance was perfect, and far from breaking bones, he made a graceful, catlike landing just beside Celeste. And then his sword was flashing in an arc, sweeping all around Celeste, and the tough, fingerlike tips of the tails that were trying to harm her were cut cleanly away. But as soon as one tip was gone, it was there again. Regenerated.

There was a defiance in Damon that Stefan hadn't seen in awhile. He was staring Shinichi down, like two animals wanting the meat in the middle.

"I could easily kill her." Shinichi growled.

Something snapped and Celeste caught a glimpse of Vane and Stefan stepping forward, with Klaus stepping up right after him. And then, she saw something that she never thought she'd see in her entire un-dead life. Elena had stepped up to stand next to Stefan. Tyler, Caroline, Bonnie and Jeremy had taken up the corners, intertwining Damon and Celeste in a wall of protection.

And then Elena spoke.

"You'll have to get past us first."

Celeste barely registered their words. There was an odd sense of coldness seeping through her. Her arm wasn't healing fast enough. An electric shock went through her body and she realized Damon's hands were on either side of her neck, keeping her awake. Keeping her alive. His eyes were as black as night, one sparkle for each black eye. It was enough to keep her occupied.

And then she heard shouting and noises that sounded so much like people getting hurt.

"I-have-to-help-them."

"Shhhhh," Damon pressed his finger to her lips and then, it was as if a blanket had been draped over her entire body. A blanket of warmth.

Damon had left her then, joining the fight. He had swung his sword at Shinichi, cutting off one full tail. The kitsune screamed and slashed at his face, catching his cheekbone and ripping it open. Stefan and Vane tried to hold the kitsune down, so that Damon could get him, but it was no use.

Bonnie, Tyler, Klaus and Caroline couldn't even hold the kitsune down.

Jeremy had managed to shoot the fox with the bow he'd brought with him, but it didn't seem to phase the kitsune. Damon had taken the sword and swung it down, catching two tails under the blade. The fox screamed in agony. There. Three down, three to go.

"That's it!" Shinichi screamed.

He then turned his black eyes on Damon. "You will lose the thing you love most."

Before Damon had a chance to respond, Damon heard Celeste scream in pain. He was about to turn, to run to Celeste when Shinichi ripped himself from the grasps of all the vampires and pounced, knocking Damon to the ground. Before anyone could help him, tree branches leaned in from all sides to pin him and Damon into their own little world, a lattice to keep them contained. To keep him away from Celeste.

Elena had moved her feet first, skidding to a stop next to Celeste. By the time she'd reached the fallen vampire, the screaming had stopped and Celeste had a blank look on her face.

"Celeste?"

The vampire looked bewildered. "..is that my name?"

"Oh no." Elena whispered.

By then, Stefan had shown up, knowing fully well that Damon was able to take care of himself. Elena had looked at him with a fearful face.

"She doesn't know who she is."

"Oh god." Stefan knew Damon's mind would surely snap when he found out.

Celeste had turned her head to the commotion going on to the right of her. Beneath her feet, tatters of muddy autumn leaves were freezing into the slush. Dusk had fallen, and although the storm was dying away, the woods were getting colder. She didn't feel the cold. Neither did she mind the dark. Her pupils opened wide, gathering up tiny particles of light that would have been invisible to a human. She could see the two figures struggling beneath the great oak tree branches quite clearly.

One had thick jet black hair, which the wind had churned into a tumbled sea of waves. He was slightly taller than the other, and although she couldn't see his face she knew his eyes were grey, like a raging storm. His lips were drawn back from his teeth in fury, and the lounging grace of his body was gathered into a predator's crouch.

This close the clamor of their anger and hatred and pain was almost deafening, like silent shouts coming from the fighters. They were locked in a death match. _I wonder which of them will win_, she thought. They were both wounded and bleeding. Still, he had just slammed the other against the gnarled trunk of an oak tree. His fury was so strong that Celeste could feel and taste it as well as hear it, and she knew it was giving him impossible strength. Strength of something that was more furious than anything she'd imagined.

He was hurt. His mind had summoned her here, battering her with shock waves of rage and pain. She had to help him because she belonged to him. The two figures were down on the icy ground now, righting like wolves, snarling. Swiftly and silently she went to them. The one with the straight black hair and grey eyes - _Damon_, a voice in her mind whispered - was on top, fingers scrabbling at the other's throat. Anger washed through her, anger and protectiveness. She reached between the two of them to grab that choking hand, to pry the fingers up.

But he was stronger than she was. With a jerk of his shoulders, he broke her hold on him and twisted in her grasp, flinging her down. And then he was above her, his face contorted with animal fury. She hissed at him and went for his eyes with her nails, but he knocked her hand away. He was going to kill her. Even wounded, he was by far the stronger. His lips had drawn back to show teeth already stained with scarlet. Like a cobra, he was ready to strike.

Then he stopped, hovering over her, his face changing.

Celeste saw the grey eyes widen. The pupils, which had been contracted to vicious dots, sprang open. He was staring down at her as if truly seeing her for the first time.


	22. The Night

"What did you do to her?!" Damon whirled around to the kitsune laying on the ground. He held the sword toward the fox's throat.

"I told you, vampire, that you would lose the one you loved most."

Something snapped in Damon, everyone could see it as he grabbed the kitsune by the throat, squeezing hard. Klaus seemed to be the only one that wasn't surprised by Damon's actions. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't end your pitiful existence right now."

"Those who wish to be cured, will often be destroyed first." Shinichi growled. "You'll soon face your fears, vampire."

Damon snapped the neck of kitsune with his bare hands, letting the body fall to the ground.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Klaus spoke, just as Damon was headed through the threshold.

"Why not?"

"Because, there's another kitsune."

A wild screech sounded off into the distance and everyone stood behind Damon, Stefan and Klaus. Another fox ran toward them and before any of them could blink, the fox had pounced on Damon, teeth bared and snarling. In a moment that would of shocked everyone, if they hadn't been locked in a death match, Klaus had grabbed the fox and threw it off Damon, the power of his toss sent the fox into a nearby tree.

Needless to say, Damon could have kissed the hybrid right then and there.

The kitsune had attacked again - biting and snarling at anything in it's path. It had already taken a few chunks of skin out of Damon and it was well on it's way to taking chunks of skin out of Stefan and Klaus, too. Damon had let his guard down, as he went to protect his brother from the kitsune. It was then, that the second kitsune decided to sink it's piercing fangs into Damon's shoulder.

"NO!"

Those that weren't fighting stopped in their tracks and looked toward the back of the group. Dark, vicious veins were everywhere on Celeste's body, her face had changed. Her face had turned into the face of a killer. A monster.

Before anyone could stop her, Celeste had acted on impulse and grabbed the kitsune by the throat before she dug her fangs in. Blood spilled everywhere, soaking the icy ground. Her carnal, primal instincts had taken hold of her. The need for blood. _The hunger. _She let loose a fury so strong that she dared anyone to come near her.

It was Damon that had pulled the animal off the kitsune. She had snarled at him and he had given her a look that made her shrink in fear. The beaten kitsune slowly sat up, more blood spitting out of everywhere.

"Don't even think of attacking." Damon warned the battered fox on the ground.

Then, the elder Salvatore turned toward Celeste, taking her face in his hands and wiping the remaining blood off her chin.

"Do you know who I am?" He whispered, his voice pleading for her to remember him.

"No." She replied.

Damon was at a loss for words. The woman who he lusted after and loved, who was standing right in front of him, had no memories of him at all. He let go of Celeste and grabbed the kitsune by the tail.

"How do I fix her?"

"You don't." Kitsune said. "Don't ever wonder if maybe she wanted to be rid of her memories? Be rid of the burden of knowing you, maybe? Ever wonder what her inner, most deepest thoughts were?"

"Tell me how to cure her."

"She loved you, you know." Kitsune continued. "She wanted to find the cure so that you could be human and leave the supernatural world behind you. She wanted to join you. She wanted to be with you and grow old."

"Shut up."

"But deep down, she knew she never stood a chance against _Elena._" Kitsune said the name with such disdain that it was amazing the world didn't swallow them all up whole. "Deep down, she knew she never stood a chance against... Katherine, was that her name? Katherine wanted her dead the second she heard someone else had your interest."

In a moment of anguish, Damon sunk to his knees.

Celeste watched with curiosity.

"Tell me how to fix her."

"_You can't._" The fox insisted. "If you want a bright side - you have a second chance. A chance to make her fall in love with you all over again. You have a second chance to do what you wanted to do all along."

"There has to be a way!" Damon hissed.

"The only way to restore her memory to it's full potential is find Shinichi's star ball. It's the only think that has the power to return memory... and turn a vampire back into a human."

Damon stood, ready to walk through the threshold and go into the Dark Dimension to find the star ball.

"But beware, vampire!" Misao growled. "For many have found the star ball of my brother's and died before they could make it back to the land of reality, there is only enough power left to either restore a memory or change _one _vampire back into a human."

Damon looked at Stefan and Elena before glancing at Klaus.

"I'm going to ask something of you, brother." Damon said, stepping forward to look his brother in the eye. "I want you to take her back to the house and keep her there, if anything happens to her, you are the first one I'm going to blame."

Stefan nodded.

He had to believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.

Or at least he hoped that was the case.

Damon turned to Klaus.

"You and I are going through there." He pointed toward the threshold.

The others watched as the vampire and hybrid disappeared through the threshold.


	23. At Grave's End

"What's his name?"

"His name is Damon." Stefan answered.

"You really don't remember anything?" Elena questioned, handing the vampire a glass full of thick red liquid.

Celeste looked at it for a moment, before downing it in one go.

Stefan was standing at the window, his hand above his head, leaning on the windowsill. It had only been an hour since they arrived back at the boarding house - an hour since he left his brother in the hands of the Original. What was he thinking? The darkness covered the town, but Stefan's night vision was intact.

"And he's your brother?" Celeste questioned, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Yes. For a hundred and sixty-five years."

Love is always patient and kind. It is never jealous. Loves is never boastful or conceited. It is never rude or selfish. It does not take offense and is not resentful. Love take no pleasure in others people's sins, but delights in the truth. It is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.

If that was love then why didn't she remember who Damon was?

"What am I?"

"A vampire."

"Who am I?"

"You're Celeste."

"How did we meet?"

Stefan sighed softly. "Damon and I knew you since we were both born. You and him were born on the same night."

"Why don't I remember anything?"

"I think deep down, you do remember certain things, otherwise, you wouldn't have let us bring you back here." Stefan said, crossing the room and taking a seat in front of her. "But a fox spirit - supernatural creature, put a spell or curse, or something on you to punish Damon for attacking him."

"I am nothing more than the consequence of catastrophe." Celeste whispered.

Stefan took her hands in his. "No. Damon's out there, right now, looking for the cure that could restore all of your memories."

Celeste looked up into green eyes. "What if he fails?"

A light snort left Stefan's lips. "Damon doesn't fail."

He reached forward to cup her cheek, brushing away a tear that had fallen, the touch surprising Celeste. "Please understand, that no matter what happens, whether you remember or not, Damon has always held a flame for you. Remember that, alright?"

Celeste nodded her head slightly.

_Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. _She could always remember her own mother telling her that. Telling her to be smart and brave when others wouldn't.

That's what she had to do.

Be brave.

* * *

Whatever happened when he stepped through the threshold with Klaus was a mystery to Damon.

All he knew was that he was not in Kansas anymore.

Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn't something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside of you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn't get in, and walk through it, step by step. There's no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverized bones. That's the kind of sandstorm you need to imagine.

And you really will have to make it through that violent, metaphysical, symbolic storm. No matter how metaphysical or symbolic it might be, make no mistake about it: it will cut through flesh like a thousand razor blades. People will bleed there, and you will bleed too. Hot, red blood. You'll catch that blood in your hands, your own blood and the blood of others.

Once the storm is over you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won't even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about.

The universe isn't fair. Things don't work out neatly, pain, hardship and challenges divided equally among those best equipped to deal with them. Sometimes individuals have to be Atlases and carry the weight of the world alone. It shouldn't happen that way, but it does

But then again this could just be fate's way of fucking him over once again.

He had landed on his back with a huff, just as another thud sounded right beside him.

"You alright, mate?"

"Fine." Damon said, pulling himself up into a sitting position. "What about you?"

"Nothing some blood won't fix later, I suppose." Klaus shrugged his shoulders and dusting off his already ripped up jeans. "Look at us, acting as if we're human when we're not."

Klaus had stood, holding his hand out for Damon to take.

In yet another odd moment of respect, Damon had allowed Klaus to pull him up.

"Have you been here before?"

"I tried, once. A long time ago."

"When?" Damon raised an eyebrow.

"When I was tormented for killing all of the Original Five way back in the 12th century."

He had been stabbed, shot, burned, bitten, beaten unconscious too many times to count, and even staked. None of those held a candle to the pain he felt when a piercing screech touched his ears.

"Fucking hell, what was that?!"

"I would say that's the sirens that want to kill anyone that's brave enough to get the star ball. That is, if they can handle the madness."

"I've already gone mad. Nothing can stop me."

Klaus smirked. "Then you really must love this Celeste."

"Shut up." Damon snapped.

Suddenly they were surrounded by vixens that looked straight out of a movie. You know the ones you see in a pirate movie that lure the pirates to their death? That's accurate, only some of them have really sharp teeth.

Vampire teeth.

"I want to know your heart's desire... care to lend me your heart so that I can hear it?"

"Piss off." Damon sneered.

"They're not women," Klaus said finally. "They're the Grim Reaper with red hair."

"My thoughts exactly." Damon muttered.

"There is only one way to fight, and that's dirty. Clean gentlemanly fighting will get you nowhere but dead, and fast. Take every cheap shot, every low blow, absolutely kick people when they're down, and maybe you'll be the one who walks away."

"Good thing I was never for clean fighting." Damon replied, swinging the sword at the siren's throat.


	24. Midnight

They had been locked in a heated battle with the Sirens for a good hour already. It was bad enough that Damon was losing strength and who knows what was ahead for them if they made it past these demons. The only thing that had kept him in his right mind was his drive to find the star ball and get the cure for Celeste. It had been the only thing keeping him tethered to a world of demons.

One of the dark-haired Sirens had gotten close to Damon, enough that he could feel the manic breath on his neck.

"I will tell the secret to you, to you, only to you. Come closer. This song is a cry for help: Help me! Only you, only you can, you are unique."

You know when you're floating on your back in the lake, the water rises and falls against your ears? So that for half a second you can hear everything around you and then for the other half a second everything's muted? It almost feels like your suspended between two worlds. A limbo of sorts. That's what it felt like to Damon. He was able to clear his head every time they screeched, but he was defenseless against them speaking.

It was as if he had a drum inside his mind. The drumming noise continued inside his head, an almighty sound that would have given any human a major migraine.

He was about to give in, when he heard a loud screech and then the world came back into view and he was greeted by an ugly sight. Tattered clothes hung loosely around the nearly half-naked body that was on top of him. He had many a naked bodies above him, but this one was going on the top of the list of 'the ugliest bodies' he'd ever seen. They looked pretty. Their faces were beautiful, but catch a glimpse of the rest of them under the clothing and you were doomed. He could prominently see the bones protruding underneath the skin.

Then he saw the hilt of the sword sticking out of the top of the Siren's head. Blood dripped in an ugly pattern onto Damon's shirt, turning it a very dark, dangerous color. Klaus was standing over them - his hand firmly on the hilt, then he twisted the metal blade and pulled. The Siren dropped after that - cold and lifeless.

"Thanks." Damon muttered after a moment of stunned silence.

"Like I said, Damon. True Love only comes around a few thousand years. ... and I'm fairly certain that if I don't bring you back in one piece and your little vixen back home finds out... she'll skin me alive."

He helped the vampire back on to his feet.

"Most of them are dead," Klaus continued as they both surveyed the carnage. "Some are barely alive, but they'll be dead soon."

When the tides change, you have two choices. You can either stand there, letting the water wash over you and your feet sink deeper into the wet sand... or you can get out of the way. You can move up the beach - or off the beach, if you want. The point is to not get stuck.

Damon had a feeling that if they stayed there any longer, they would be stuck for an eternity.

And as much as he had come to respect the Original, Damon wasn't about to spend eternity with him, stuck in a world that was neither a dream or reality.

"You look like shit."

Damon looked down and noted all his little scraps and cuts along his body, along with the fang marks on his neck. They were steadily bleeding, but Damon didn't care.

He wanted to get the hell out of this place.

"Come on. I have a feeling there's more dangerous things lying ahead."

"It wouldn't be the Dark Dimension if it wasn't." Klaus replied.

* * *

She didn't know when she'd fallen asleep or how she'd even managed to fall asleep in the first place, but she did remember the dream, and the scream. The next thing she knew, was seeing Stefan racing into the living room and looking at her with a face full of concern. He searched her face for something. Something Celeste couldn't put her finger on. It was the sort of bone deep emotion that made her think he wanted to hold her tighter with one hand, and draw a sword against the world with the other.

Celeste shook her head.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know." Celeste said honestly, holding her head. "One minute it was flashes of things I don't remember and then, it was a piercing bloody murder scream."

But she'd remembered seeing Damon.

Or at least, she thought it was Damon.

He was tall, dark and had a dangerous aura to him.

She was always torn. Between control and chaos; passion and tranquility. Between what's fated and what she wants. Part of her longs to take the plunge, to dive off headfirst and let the feeling of control evaporate on the wind. And part of her wants to be in a place where she'd never have to worry about that choice-or any choice. Where peace and calm are the only things she'd feel.

That would be paradise.

"What else?" Stefan questioned.

"...There was a man. He was tall, dark and he seemed dangerous." Celeste repeated out loud. But he wasn't dangerous to her. Because she refused to tell Stefan what else she dreamed of.

She had dreamed that she was in his arms. His eyes were the brightest, most unnatural blue she had ever seen, a toxic cerulean. The tender pressure of his lips soothed her, like a warm drink in the dead of the winter, when every part of her felt so cold. Damon Salvatore was more than she had ever dared wish for, and he was better than a dream or a fantasy because he was real. He was far from perfect, moody and distant at times, and burdened with sharp temper and an impulsiveness that was part of his dark nature. But she felt more love for him than she thought possible. He wasn't perfect, but he was perfect for her.

Even if she didn't have any memory of him, somewhere, somehow, her subconscious recognized him as her soul mate.


	25. Sacrifice

"All I'm saying is that sooner of later, you'll have to come to terms with yourself. You can't wish away the vampire in you, and you shouldn't keep atoning for it. You should figure out who you are and what you need, and then don't apologize for it. " Klaus said, as both he and Damon climbed the hill. Klaus had faintly remembered having to climb a hill right before he could see the star ball. Or at least he hope so.

Both of their strengths were waning. They were tired and fighting off tree branches that had gotten in the way had only made it worse. How much more could they take before their strength gave out?

Damon wanted to get back home. He felt an odd sense to hurry up and get back to reality. Back to Celeste.

* * *

She had spent the rest of the night up, wide awake. Stefan had been kind enough to bring her some old photographs that he managed to dig up from Damon's past, hoping that it would boost her memory.

But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember anything of Damon on the surface. Perhaps, after all, romance did not come into one's life with pomp and blare, like a gay knight riding down; perhaps it crept to one's side like an old friend through quiet ways; perhaps it revealed itself in seeming prose, until some sudden shaft of illumination flung athwart its pages betrayed the rhythm and the music, perhaps . . . perhaps . . . love unfolded naturally out of a beautiful friendship, as a golden-hearted rose slipping from its green sheath.

Stefan had come down when dawn had approached to find her still sitting curled up on the couch, staring at one particular photo. As Stefan got closer, he noticed what the picture was about.

"That's when our mother was pregnant with me." Stefan said as he sat down on the coffee table in front of her.

The photo was an old one - faded in most parts, but for the most part, you could tell what it was. It had two seven year olds and two women. Celeste and Damon, with their mothers.

"Is that me?"

"Mhm."

After a moment a silence, Celeste asked gently, "What did I do to deserve not remembering anything of my life?"

Stefan had once again been helpful and pulled the vampire into his arms, trying his best to comfort her.

* * *

"No, you will listen to me - take your riddles and shove them so far up your ass that your ancestors will feel it. I don't care how you fix it, but you will give Celeste her memory back. I was the one that attacked and killed that fox. If you want to take someone's memories away, take mine. They're no use to me, anyway. Nothing but misery."

Apparently, those Sirens weren't the only demons they would have to face to get the damn starball.

"There's only one way you can get the star ball for your beloved."

"How?"

"You must surrender your heart's desire."

A moment of silence.

Then it dawned on Damon.

"You want my humanity."

"No, I want your memories of your humanity." The red eyed demon stared at Damon. "I feed off memories, vampire. Heart's desire memories."

"Fine. Take it. Only give me your word that I will leave this place with the star ball so that I can return her memories."

The demon smiled widely. "As you wish."

Searing pain followed soon after.

* * *

She didn't know what time it had been when she heard the front door fly open. Stefan had unlocked himself from her, watching as Klaus stepped through, setting an unconscious Damon on the couch.

"What the hell happened to him?"

"He sacrificed his one and only chance at being human for her." Klaus looked at Celeste, before handing her a vial. "Drink."

"I don't drink powder blue liquids."

"_Drink._" Klaus insisted. "I did not go through the Dark Dimension and carry him out of it for you to not drink it."

She downed the vial in one gulp. Something crawled inside of her, like a warm drink, filling her bones. She could remember the fight, and she remembered her life before.

But most of all: _She remembered Damon_.

Just as she bent down next to Damon, the vampire sucked in a breath and blue eyes greeted her own.

"Damon."

Damon's heart could of burst right then and there. She said his name and she had said it so perfectly, as if she knew what it was all along.

He reached out and pulled her to him, one hand on her waist and the other behind her neck. He tipped her head up and lowered his lips to hers. She closed her eyes and melted as her whole body was consumed in that kiss. Chills, ran over her skin, and fire burned inside her. His body pressed closer to hers, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. His lips were warmer and softer than anything she could have ever imagined, yet fierce and powerful at the same time. Her own lips responded hungrily, and she tightened her hold on him. His fingers slid down the back of her neck, tracing it's shape, and every place they touched was electric.

They didn't understand that she held his heart, held it so utterly that there was nothing he wouldn't do, no line he wouldn't cross to keep her safe. For the first time in forever, he was stunned to silence. Not by her words, but by the tenderness in her hands, the worry in her eyes. He'd been wounded far, far worse and shrugged it off. But then, there had been no woman with sun kissed by the sunset and eyes of storm gray to tear into him for daring to get himself hurt.

Some things were worth the dance with darkness.

"Are you angry with me?" She asked breathlessly.

Damon had looked at her with such tenderness that it was almost unbearable to look at him, his hand brushing through her dark hair.

"How can I be angry with the other half of my soul?" he asked, his tone so tender it tore little pieces out of her heart. "I have a temper. But even if I act pissed, even if I snarl, it doesn't mean I love you any less. Your soul shines, Celeste, and I'm glad it shines for me."

He got under her skin, he could tear her to pieces and she wouldn't care. She was his and he was hers. They had under-the-skin privileges.

Love, he thought as he held her to his heart, was an agony beyond compare.

But he would gladly suffer if it meant she would stay by his side.

"I'm crazy about you, angel. You scare the shit out of me at times, but I want to dance with you anyway."

Celeste smiled softly before her lips touched Damon's gently. "We fit, you and I," she whispered looking into that haunting gaze. "Two broken pieces making a whole."

Everyone was starting to pile out, when Klaus had pulled Celeste off to the side. "Be gentle with him, love. He's got a heart as big as the Alantic - he'll die for you without blinking. But he doesn't expect anyone to do the same for him."

Celeste nodded and smiled softly, watching as Klaus walked off.


	26. You Saved Me

It had only been a few hours since Klaus had brought Damon back with him, but that didn't mean that he wasn't getting the royal treatment. As soon as everyone had left the boarding house, and Stefan and Elena had finally left them, Damon had taken Celeste up to his room. And he had planned on making up for lost time.

Celeste had a different idea.

She was standing by the window, watching the sun slowly rise into a new day. Damon was behind her, with his arms around her waist. They stayed like that, just enjoying each other's company.

"You gave up your one chance at being human, for me."

Damon had leaned down and kissed her neck, whispering in her ear. "It was worth it."

She turned in his arms. Then, rising up on tiptoes, she cupped his face in her palms and drew him down. Her kiss was innocent, vulnerable, a caress so gentle that it made him her slave between one breath and the next. His scent was like the scent of the sea, a wild turbulent storm, crashing into her senses before she had a chance to stop them.

Her hands traveled down his chest and under her palm, his heart beat strong and sure. It was such a human sound, so honest, so real. His hands roamed her body as he threw her down on the bed. Leaning down onto his arms, he prowled up the bed to her body, his eyes fixated on her secret skin as if he'd never seen anything like it. When he got in range, wide hands smoothed their way up the insides of her thighs, opening them even farther. As her skin sizzled under the delicious heat, she supposed she should be giving serious thought to the lunacy of what she was doing playing with a vampire, who was, for all his charm, as lethal as a stiletto across the throat. But then again, most of her friends already thought she was half a nut short of a fruitcake. Why disappoint?

Deciding on some torture herself, she lifted her hips, rubbing herself against the hard thrust of his denim-covered erection, the roughness of the fabric an exquisite sensation. She would've liked naked skin even more, but he wasn't budging. All she got out of Damon Salvatore was a very low, gravely growl that erupted from deep in his throat.

"I love you," she whispered.

He stroked his hand down her thigh. "Yep, you do."

"You're supposed to say it back," she said, pretending to be offended because the silliness kept the hope at bay.

"Why?" He scowled down at her, a glimmer of mischief in his eyes. "You know you're my heartbeat."

His tongue shot into her mouth before she could say anything back and his hands tangled in her hair, pulling on her, arching her, trapping her head. The hunger in him was ferocious, a warrior's thick-blooded need for sex. He was going to take her with all the strength he had, and she was going to be sore when he was through using her. Sore and utterly blissed out. She couldn't wait.

He had ripped her tank top in half - not giving a shit if that was the only clothing she had. The next thing she knew, she way lying completely naked to him, completely exposed to his torture. He had used his vampire speed to take the rest of her clothing off. He was about as evil as they got. Feeling suddenly shy, she crossed her arms over her chest. The smile on his face widened, becoming touched with the feral wildness of the cat.

It made thinking difficult.

"Why is it - " She shivered as he kissed the top of her chest, just above her arms. "- that I always end up naked while you remain dressed?"

A husky masculine chuckle, his lips moving over her shoulder, his hands on her hips. "Because I'm a smart man."

"Or you're just very evil." Celeste retorted.

Damon gave her a look of mischief and unhooked her arms, thus exposing her breasts to him. He took one nipple into his mouth, tugging and pulling on it, while his hand worked the other mound, kneading it.

And she knew this silent dance between them would be decided tonight, one way or the other. Either she tore down every one of her defenses and accepted his claim to the soul, or she walked away. Except she didn't think the latter was an option.

He kept her nipple in his mouth, but his other hand had stopped working her other breast and was now headed toward a spot that ached for his touch.

And then he was gone.

But she had a split second to gaze upon his face, which had changed, his fangs elongated and the next then she knew, his head was between her legs and his fangs were piercing her inner thigh.

The pleasure of it all was unbearable as her back arched like a bow.

_Oh Damon..._

He wasn't sucking her blood out and she figured that's what made it unbearable, because her blood was just flowing into his mouth willingly. A good five minutes later and he had retracted his fangs, looking down at her as he wiped the blood from his mouth with his hand.

"I can't believe you bit me there." She said finally, after a moment of silence.

A smile curved his lips. "Yeah, but you liked it. I could hear your thoughts."

She scoffed at him. "Only you would tap into my mind."

His forehead bumped softly against hers, his brilliant blue gaze searing into her, his wicked smile dripping with sex. "That's not all I plan to tap into."

Celeste reached her leg up to rub against his shielded erection.

And she got the reaction that she was hoping for.

His breath hitched, and he regarded her hungrily. "You're playing with fire, you know that?"

"That's weird, considering you're an ice prin—" She didn't get any further, as Damon leaned in and kissed her once again. His tongue danced in her mouth and she gave way willingly to his plunder, because nothing else mattered in the world except them.

And frankly, she could give a damn if Stefan and Elena were listening to them.

A tiny piece of her hoped they were as a smirk took over her lips and Celeste began rolling up the hem of his shirt. She broke the kiss long enough to pull the clothing over his head and soon they were back to tonsil hockey while she freed his hard, satiny length from the constricting clothing. Now, he was exposed to her. Just the way she liked it.

"Why am I so drawn to you?" He muttered, breaking the kiss. "Why is it so hard to let go? Why after all this time, do we simply fall back into old routines that should have faded long ago? I thought... at first... it was Elena, that you remind me of so much. I was selfish, I thought if I couldn't have her, you were the next best thing. But it's not, it's not like that at all." Though he didn't smile, his eyes lightened a shade. "You're far more stubborn than she ever was."

Celeste sniffed.

"That's like the pot calling the kettle black," She whispered, and a faint, tiny grin finally crossed his face, before his expression clouded and he lowered his head, touching his forehead to hers like she had done.

"What do you want of me, Celeste?" He asked, a low thread of anguish flickering below the surface.

Tears blurred her vision, all the fear and heartache of the past few days rising to the surface.

"Just you," She whispered. "I just want you."

That was all he needed to hear as he slipped his hard length into her, a moan leaving her lips and then he silenced her moans with his mouth as he began slowly thrusting in and out. Their bodies moved in perfect sync as he intertwined his fingers with hers, pushing her hands above her head, pinning them there as he agonizingly made love to her.

In that moment, it was clear who he wanted.

He wanted Celeste.

The one he should have been with all those years ago.


	27. Once Burned, Twice Shy

It had to be the next morning when Damon awoke, because the sun was once again rising over the horizon. He opened his eyes and stared at Celeste, who hadn't budged. His fingers traced light designs on her shoulder. He'd learned that many women can satisfy for a short period of time, but when he falls in love, only one will sustain him forever.

That was when the door of his bedroom opened and Stefan stepped in.

Damon raised his eyebrow.

"I'm just checking up on you." Stefan threw his hands up in defense.

"Shhhh." Damon whispered, turning his head to look down at Celeste, who had stirred in her sleep, but for the most part, she looked peaceful and still asleep. "Not so loud."

"Sorry." Stefan went over to Damon's dresser and pulled out a pair of pajama pants, tossing them at Damon. "Klaus is downstairs, says he wants to talk to you."

Damon didn't like the sound of that.

When they got down the stairs, sure enough, Klaus was waiting for them in the living room with Elena.

"Ah, good!" Klaus smirked. "You're still alive. I merely came by to check and make sure things were back to normal and no one died."

Damon raised an eyebrow. "That's it?"

"That's it."

"You are really odd." Damon said as he walked past the Original toward the liquor cabinet, pulling out some bourbon and pouring himself a glass.

"I merely fancy us as friends, Damon."

"Why? Because you saved my life?"

"Thrice, if I remember correctly."

"Fine." Damon held his hand out to the Original. "Friends, on one condition."

"What condition?"

"You don't try and kill us ever again."

Klaus looked like he was ready to kill Damon for that statement, but instead, the hybrid shook his hand. "Deal."

"Am I interrupting something?"

Everyone turned to see Celeste standing in the doorway, dressed in only one of Damon's button down shirts, her eyes looking at Damon.

He smiled, so sensual and beautiful, it was another form of bliss just looking at him.

Damon set his glass down and glided over to her.

"You weren't there when I woke." She stuck her bottom lip out in a pout.

"Sorry." Damon smirked, brushing the hair from her neck and leaned close to her ear, his voice so soft not even the Original would've heard it. "I love you," He murmured, and her heart nearly burst out of her chest. And then he headed back toward his room. Celeste followed behind him after a moment.

On the stairs, he called out. "The next person to bother me will get staked."

The second they reached his bedroom again, Damon had grabbed her by her waist and before she knew it, she was back on his bed. The next thing she knew, she sitting on Damon's lap, with his arms around her waist, staring deep into blue eyes. He was massaging her thighs and she wanted to melt into his touch as his hands rubbed her legs up and down. It was impossible to not melt with that gaze of his.

His eyes met hers, and for a moment, his face was open and vulnerable in the sunlight. The casting shadow of the sunlight made him look like a dark angel. She caught a hint of wonder there as they stared at each other.

And then she went and ruined the moment by trying to stifle a yawn.

Damon pulled her against him, brushing her hair from her neck. His mouth skimmed her shoulder, up her neck, sending butterflies swarming through her insides. "If you want to rest, then do so," He murmured against her skin. "The annoyances will not disturb you, I promise."

Summer and Winter were not supposed to fall in love, she had mused so long ago. It wasn't figured out why she thought of herself as Summer, but she knew why she thought of Damon as Winter. There was no denying that. He touched her cheek softly, his eyes intense as they gazed into hers. He held her gaze as he leaned back against the mattress, bringing her with him. He brought the blankets over them and soon, he had resigned her to slumber, rubbing his fingers softly against her forehead, ushering her into sleep.

"Do you miss Elena, the human Elena?" She asked softly, knowing that if she didn't word it right, she'd be forever damned to his hatred.

"All I know is that I've wasted all these years looking for something, a sort of trophy I'd get only if I really, really did enough to deserve it. But I don't want it anymore, I want something else now, something warm and sheltering, something I can turn to, regardless of what I do, regardless of who I become. Something that will just be there, always, like tomorrow's sky. That's what I want now, and I think it's what you should want too. But it will be too late soon. We'll become too set to change. If we don't take our chance now, another may never come for either of us."

See, that was the thing with Damon. He could be kind and gentle and philosophical if he wanted. He could be everything that he pretended not to be if someone would just let him be. If someone let him be himself and not judge him for being what he was turned into by his brother all those years ago, they would see a different side to him. A side that is super intelligent and alert to his surroundings, someone that is super unique and creative. Only no one gave him the time or chance to do so.

Celeste would make sure they would now.

She would make sure that the world knew there was a different side to Damon Salvatore.

She had stared into his eyes and saw the mischief rise within them as he bent down. "This is our true tie," He whispered, his breath falling hotly onto her lips. "You're meant for me, and I will have you."

Oh, she had a feeling she was in for_ one hell of a ride_.


	28. Inside The Fire

It was nearing Christmas time in Mystic Falls, as everyone was gathering their Christmas decorations that would light up the small town. It was hard to believe that it was December already. The snow was slowly flowing to the ground, little by little each day. Celeste had taken a seat on the bench in the backyard of the Salvatore house, enjoying the silence and the winter weather, letting her mind wander to a place that only she knew existed.

With the sight of the snow thickly covering the ground, and the red and green lights that lit up the neighborhood off in the distance, the sheer splendor of the sight made her chest tighten and tears sting her eyes. All the darkness lately made it easy to forget the world contained more than people trying to hurt other people. It had beauty, too, if you knew where to look-and remembered to open your eyes.

Her thoughts were interrupted by an unlikely person.

Klaus.

He had walked up the path that she'd created with her own footprints. And then he had sit down next to her on the bench.

"You seem to be just like Damon when it comes to avoiding people."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, that someone managed to convince Stefan that the house needed decorating and Damon disappeared soon there after."

Celeste had smiled.

"He never was someone that liked Christmas, especially after his mother died."

"And you?"

"Not much of a fan of it either. Too... christmas-y."

"I have begun to wonder something -" Klaus began. "When you were trapped by that hunter, and Stefan called me because of Damon... I lied and told them that it was true love, but I'm beginning to wonder if it's something else entirely."

Celeste raised an eyebrow.

"There's a legend.. millions of years old that states every thousand years, when a vampire turns their first human, then that vampire is sired to them forever."

"Sired?" Celeste resisted the urge to smack him in the face with a snowball.

"Yes, sired. In the end, it brings questions that you don't want to answer."

Someday, she going to meet some supernatural creature who tells her everything she should know up front and in a forthright manner - but she won't hold her breath. Instead Celeste stood and walked back to the house, ignoring the protests from Klaus. He probably figured that she was going after Damon to yell at him for the sired theory.

She was going on an entirely different mission.

Damon's mind was calling her.

And it sounded pained.

Using her vampire speed, she flew past everyone on the first level and sped up to the second floor, flinging the door of his room open. Damon sat on his knees in the middle of the room, the sun shining on his skin.

Smoke was rising from his flesh.

"No!" Celeste pushed him into the shadows of the hallway. "Damon? Damon, can you hear me?"

By now, Stefan, Elena, Caroline, Jeremy and Bonnie had showed up.

Damon made a strangled noise and touched his shoulder, to which Celeste pulled the shirt back. The mark was one she'd seen before.

"Check the house! It's a werewolf!"

Before she had a chance to stand, the culprit had pounced on her. She punched and kicked the werewolf as it's jaw tried to get her flesh in it's mouth, to doom her to death.

But then, two wolves knocked the other to the ground, snarling at each other. Celeste scrambled to her feet.

That's when the wolves changed.

And Celeste saw her world crumble.

Vane changed back to human first.

And then the second one changed and she saw Kane.

The third one though, was the nail on her coffin.

"Hello, Raven." For a moment, her heart leaped at the soft, deep raspy voice. Bracing herself, she turned. It wasn't the other two. It was the other brother, the oldest of the three.

Zane stood there, in the flesh and bone.

Celeste nearly fainted right there.

His once dark, shaggy hair was not smooth and cleanly cut.

But his eyes remained the same.

A deep, midnight looking blue gazed at her.

"Zane." She whispered.

The werewolf smiled at her as the rest of them looked between everyone.

Celeste snapped out of her trance and bent down toward Damon.

"Klaus!"

Klaus was there in a second.

Her eyes pleaded with Klaus, to which he bent down and bit into his wrist, holding it to Damon's mouth. He drank, after a few moments and soon, Damon was opening his stormy gray eyes to look at her as she drew a ragged breath of relief.

Then her eyes turned dark and she turned them on Zane, as she used her vampire abilities to knock him into the wall.

"What the hell is the matter with you?"

"Oh come on, princess, I could smell your scent all over him." Zane's eyebrows wiggled suggestively and Celeste had punched him in the gut.

"That's no reason for you to bite him!"

"Thought he was human." Zane shrugged.

"You're a pathetic liar." Celeste countered.

He suddenly leaned in, and his fingers brushed her cheek. Warmth flooded her skin unwillingly, and she stood frozen, waiting for him to pull back.

He didn't.

The tips of his fingers lingered on her cheek for a moment. Then, very slowly, his hand slipped forward, the palm brushing her skin. Frozen, Celeste stared at him, watching his face as his fingers moved from her cheek, to her forehead, to her chin, like he needed touch to confirm that she was really there and not some figmant of his imagination.

That's when Damon grabbed him by the throat.

"No!" Celeste shouted. "Damon! Let him go!"

"He bit me."

"He thought you were an enemy!" Celeste argued.

"He touched you."

"I thought he was dead, Damon!"

"And I -" Zane choked out, staring at Damon. "- thought she was -dead, too."

Celeste froze. "What?"

She walked over to Damon and forcefully removed Damon's hand from around Zane's neck.

"You thought I was dead?"

Zane nodded.

She turned to look at Vane and Kane.

"It was for the best."

"How was it for the best, Kane?!" Celeste yelled.

"He wanted to find you, when he awoke. He wanted to make sure we had kept our promise and gotten you away from those hunters." Vane looked at her with sad eyes. "Telling him you had died was the only thing that would keep him in bed, so that he could heal properly."

Celeste felt as though her heart had been ripped out and fed to the dogs.

Betrayal seeped in next.

"You lied to me and told me you couldn't find him! You told me he was dead! I spent so long thinking he was dead and I'd never see him again!"

Celeste turned on her heel and ran, far away from the boarding house.

"Way to break it to her gently, brother." Zane muttered.

"Shut up." Vane hissed.


	29. Frozen

She replayed their last kiss in her mind, clinging to it like a life vest in a raging sea storm. Had she imagined his feelings for her, misread his intentions? Klaus' information about her possibly being sired to Damon was slowly eating away at her mind. What if everything he'd said was just a ploy, a scheme to get her, to make Elena realize what she'd been missing out on? What if it was just a ploy to make Elena jealous?

Dangerous, she thought, this was so dangerous. Too many pieces of her in his hands. She had to hold something back, some part of her that would protect her against the nights she woke to find him lying awake, a faraway expression on his face. Because it would happen—no matter the passionate tenderness growing ever deeper between them, she was second best, would always be second best.

"Now, how did I know I'd find you here?" The soft, raspy deep voice said.

Celeste didn't bother to turn around as she kept her gaze looking at the headstone that bared her name, birth date and the day she 'went missing'.

She was surprised when a blanket of warmth sat down next to her.

Zane.

Of course. If it was Vane or Kane that found her, she'd probably murder them.

If it was Damon that went looking for her, she'd probably spill her worst fears to him.

In a way, she was glad it was Zane.

"You enjoy making my heart stop, don't you think?" He whispered, and she felt him shaking with adrenaline, as close as he was to her. Before she could form a reply, he put space between them and looked ahead, a stoic bodyguard once more.

A tiny part of her felt sad.

"Your boy toy didn't like me when I told him it was best if I went looking for you - since it was my fault you left in the first place." He teased.

For a moment, she didn't move.

"You're awfully quiet, Raven," Zane said as he picked a few dried leaves off her headstone. "In fact, you haven't said a word since I arrived. What's wrong?"

She shook her head after a moment.

"Raven.."

She shook her head again, more violently this time.

That's when Zane touched her face and made her look at him.

She couldn't help the water works that followed with her gaze. There was even a split second where she could see Zane's heart breaking for her in his face. And suddenly, it was as if the flood gates were opened up and the next thing she knew, she was spilling everything, every ounce of her thoughts to Zane, telling him everything.

She told him about the siring thing that Klaus had told her about. She told him about her deepest fear - that Damon was only with her just to get back at Elena for not choosing him. She told him that she couldn't help but feel like he was using her to make Elena jealous. She told him everything. She even told him things that she shouldn't have, things that she knew would forever damn her to a life of mistrust.

He didn't say anything, but she heard his faint sigh when she'd finished her tale, as if he'd been holding his breath, and oddly enough, he drew her close to him, his warmth shocking her ice cold skin, but it didn't seem to bother him as he wrapped his arms around her. She laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

That's when she felt herself being lifted off the ground. Zane had picked her up and through her eyelashes, she saw her headstone slowly become smaller. They were walking away - toward somewhere else.

When they arrived back at the boarding house, everyone had stopped what they were doing. Damon narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth first.

"What'd you do to her?"

"Easy, vampire." Zane hissed as he laid Celeste down on the nearest couch. She curled up on the leather sofa as he draped a throw over her. Then he turned and faced Damon. "I didn't do anything. She's exhausted - physically and emotionally. You would know that, if you paid any real attention to her."

"What the hell do you know?" Damon growled.

"She reeks of sadness, of indecision and guilt. And desire, of course. It's even stronger than yours." Zane argued. "Tell me, vampire, have you ever stopped to _listen_ to her heart? It beats as slow as a broken-hearted mortal. Perhaps you should ask your buddy over there," Zane pointed a slender finger at Klaus, who was standing against the door frame. "Since he seems to think she's sired to you."

"What?!" Damon went for Klaus, but Stefan held him back.

"Why do you think she came back and suddenly, she's still in love with you? Seems rather weird, don't you?" Zane questioned.

"Zane, don't." Vane warned.

"No," Zane snapped. "I've been here less than a day and even I can see that she's unhappy with her own species, no less."

"What are you talking about?" Damon growled.

"Who do you think kept her happy when _you _left, vampire?" Zane questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Me. I kept her happy, I kept her _alive_. I would of still kept her alive and happy to this day, had my brothers not made a stupid decision that wasn't theirs to make in the first place." Zane gave a pointed glance toward Vane and Kane.

"You don't know anything."

Zane snorted. "I don't? Okay, fine vampire. Do you know that she likes to take long walks in the early mornings, right before the sun comes up? Do you know that she loves the smell of fresh strawberries and she prefers them in the morning, than at night? Do you know that she always sleeps on her stomach when she's irritated or annoyed? Do you know that she enjoys long, hot baths with fresh roses petals in the water, with bubbles that have the scent of fresh strawberries?" With each question, Zane took a step forward, toward Damon, until he was nose to nose with Damon by the last question.

Damon's eyes betrayed him for a second.

Zane didn't fail to notice.

"You don't. So tell me, vampire. Who loves her more now?" Zane crossed his arms over his chest. "Here's the kicker, vampire. Did you know that she walked out into the sun without her ring on, purposefully?"

"She wouldn't."

"She did." Zane said. "When she found us, after you left, she was distraught. Barely would eat or drink anything. Vane and I had to coax her into drinking blood. Yeah, we had to coax a vampire into drinking bloody. Werewolves had to coax a vampire, go figure." Zane scoffed lightly. "She didn't drink it most of the time. She ended up becoming so fragile and thin that either one of us could have snapped her like a twig. She was a barely breathing corpse. And then one day, we got her to drink, to where her color came back into her face and everything. And when I went back a few hours later to check up on her, I found her ring on the nightstand and she was standing outside. I barely got her back into the shadows before the sun lit her up like the fourth of July."

Something died in Damon as soon as Zane began to speak. Stefan no longer needed to hold his brother back from taking the head off the werewolf.

"Take her away from here. Keep her safe until I can figure out if what Klaus says is true or not."

"Damon-" Stefan began.

Damon held his hand up, silencing his brother.

Zane nodded his head once, then walked over to the leather couch and picked up the sleeping vampire in his arms. He passed Damon on the way out and there was a split second where Damon didn't know if he was doing the right thing or not.


	30. Delirium

When Celeste woke, the sun was setting behind the horizon. Usually, when she awoke in a place other than her carefully shielded sanctuary, there would be a moment of near panic while memory fought to reestablish itself. Tonight, she knew even before full consciousness returned, for the unmistakable scent of the whiskey saturated her tiny chamber.

That didn't stop her from feeling overwhelmed and nearly tripping down the stairs to reach the door.

Unfortunately, Zane was waiting for her.

"Where am I?"

"You know where you're at."

"Why am I here?"

"Your ice boy told me to bring you here."

"Why?"

"Can't tell."

"Why not?"

"Well it wouldn't be a secret if I told you, would it?" Zane smirked, but then his smirk disappeared when he noticed her tear streaked cheeks and raccoon eyes. "Look, princess, you can play it safe, and I wouldn't blame you for it. You can continue as you've been doing, and you'll survive, but is that what you want? Is that enough?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

He didn't respond to her, all he did was cross the distance between them and then his lips was hers, his one hand on the back of her head, holding her there. Celeste tried to fight him off. She tried her damnedest, but his kiss was so warm and so soft and inviting. It was only love that flowed from his lips. He had no indecision. She couldn't feel anything but love. The pit of her stomach was on fire. She felt bad, kissing Zane. But it was only fair, since she caught Damon thinking about Elena once while they were making love to each other.

He smelled so good, a mix of frost and something sharp, like peppermint. It was a delicious, intoxicating smell. She felt her body being lifted then and suddenly, Zane was carrying her back up the stairs, back to her room.

When they reached the bed, Zane had laid her down on the bed and unlinked her arms from around his neck. He stood to make his exit and he had almost made it to the door, then her voice stopped him.

"Don't leave me, Zane."

Oh, that nearly broke his heart in two, how soft she said his name. She was someone else's. He was supposed to be keeping her here, not to fall for her again. He forced himself to turn around, regretting it the second he saw her. His feet moved toward the bed, as if under a spell.

Shifting slightly, she went to trace a kiss along his jaw, but he ducked his head and his lips met hers, and suddenly she was kissing him as if she were going to meld him into her body. His fingers tangled in her hair, and her hands slid beneath his shirt, tracing the hard muscles of his chest and stomach. They were just like she remembered them to be. He groaned, pulled her into his lap, and lowered them both back on to the bed, being careful not to crush her.

There was something about Zane that, even though he was a werewolf, he was human, too. And he did things at a much slower pace than she was used to. He made her feel human when he was around. Lifting her head, Celeste placed a kiss at the hollow of his neck, right beneath his jawbone, and he drew in a quiet breath, his hands curling into fists. She suddenly realized they were on a bed, alone in an isolated cabin, with no one to point fingers or condemn. Her heart sped up, thudding in her ears, and soon, she felt his heartbeat quicken, too.

Her whole body was on fire, with Zane above her, leaning his hot body against her own, his lips on hers, with her hands sliding over his hot, tight skin. She couldn't speak, couldn't think. All she could do was feel.

He traced hot kisses along her skin and she could of died right then and there. It wasn't supposed to be like this. She wasn't supposed to be making out with Zane, a werewolf. It was supposed to be Damon. She wanted it to be Damon, so bad. But she couldn't help how she felt when Zane kissed her. He kissed her with everything he was, and there was nothing left to her imagination, nothing to get her upset with. He had no one, he preferred no one. That way he wouldn't lose his heart to someone. She shouldn't have felt so good with Zane and so bad with Damon.

Was it true?

Did she feel more herself when she was with Zane?

Did she love Zane more than Damon?

Oh, it was a question she didn't want to answer.

If she loved one, she'd more than likely lose the other.

"Princess," Zane whispered against her skin, brushing her hair from her face as he gazed into her eyes.

She couldn't speak. She just stared back into those midnight blue eyes.

The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds, that's what she was always told. And that was everything Zane was. Zane was that crack of sunlight in the darkness, while Damon was nothing but darkness. She liked the darkness, but she couldn't help but admire the beauty of the light.

She had a history of making decisions very quickly about men. She had always fallen in love fast and without measuring risks, always having a tendency not only to see the best in everyone, but to assume that everyone is emotionally capable of reaching his highest potential. She had fallen in love more times than she care to count with the highest potential of a man, rather than with the man himself, and she sometimes hung on to the relationship for a long time waiting for the man to ascend to his own greatness. Many times in romance she was a victim of her own optimism.

Was this another one of those times?

"Can I show you something?" Zane asked, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"Yes." The answer was automatic.

And then Zane was gone from her above her and soon, she was being pulled up by her hands.

"Do you trust me?" Zane whispered beside her.

"Yes."

Zane's hands came over her face, covering her eyes and then he was leading her, slowly, toward another part of the cabin. The scent of fresh strawberries and rose petals flooded her senses.

And then Zane let his hands fall.

Right in front of her, was a very large bathtub, with rose petals floating around in the steamy hot water.

Without speaking, Celeste had walked toward the bathtub, the scent of strawberries and roses filling her nose as she stripped off her shoes.

"I'll leave you alone then."

"No, stay." Celeste turned toward Zane and watched him walk over to the edge of the tub.

She peeled off her pants and shirt, leaving her in only her underwear. That's when Zane held his hand out for her. She took it, slowly and the werewolf helped her into the tub. Celeste sunk down into the water, feeling the hot water regenerate her spirit. Zane crossed his arms on the edge of the tub and leaned his head on them, staring at her, watching her closely.

Celeste moved her hands, watching the petals float away with the tug of the ripple. There was two rose petals that always came back to her though.

Just two.

For some reason, that felt like a sign to her.

She caught Zane staring at her and smiled.

He smiled back at her, a smile that only grew while he watched her take the two rose petals in her hands and inspect them with her eyes.

"Afraid they might bite?"

"No," Celeste replied before looking over at him and smiling. "I just can't help but think it's a sign.. that these two are the only ones that will constantly stay near me, no matter how many water ripples I create."

Zane shrugged his shoulders lightly without removing his head. "Perhaps."

He was met with a face full of water. That's when Zane jumped in the tub with her, splashing her relentlessly, enjoying the sound that her laughter brought.


	31. Reckless

After Zane had drawn Celeste the bath and they finished getting sopping wet, Zane had gotten her dried off and into the bed. She fell asleep with her head on his chest and with Zane brushing her hair away from her face.

Their moment was interrupted by Vane, who stood in the doorway watching his brother caress the vampire's face ever so softly.

"This playing house gig won't last very long, brother."

"I know." Zane replied, looking down at Celeste. "But let me enjoy it while it lasts."

"Which won't be very long - I heard it through the werewolf grapevine that the Salvatores are trying to find someone that can tell them more about the vampire sire bond."

"Is it ready?"

Vane looked at his brother, his black eyes twinkling in the dim light. "Give it until the next full moon and Ariella says it'll be done."

Zane looked back down at Celeste, a smile curving his lips. "Give her my thanks, will you? I'd give her my thanks myself - but I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment."

Vane nodded. "You want it for her, don't you?"

"Of course I do."

"Why? Maybe she likes who she is."

"Maybe so," Zane replied, "But until those Salvatores are out of her life - especially Damon - then she'll be forever looking over her shoulder to see who he's screwing next."

"Never was a fan of vampires too much." Vane shrugged.

"And yet you welcome one with open arms every time." Zane smirked.

"She's an exception."

"Why?"

"Because she keeps you well behaved, that's why." Vane replied.

Zane grinned as his brother rolled his eyes and walked into the hall, probably off to see Ariella and catch up on her wicked witchy juju. They had saved Ariella from a gang of vampires that were threatening to rip her throat out after they fed her blood from one of them, thus eventually turning her into a vampire. It was one of those situations where they didn't have to save her, but they did anyway and she's been with them ever since, vowing that she'd do whatever they wanted her to, which there was nothing they wanted from her. Until now, when she overheard a conversation about a cure and she said she could make one.

They gave her shelter and picked up a laundry list of everything she needed and she'd been working on it for a few weeks now. She was the one that had brought Zane back to life - her poultice had been a great boost in the healing process after vampires nearly torn him limb from limb.

Zane was still watching Celeste sleep when Kane walked in. Zane's little brother was always an annoyance when he wanted to be.

"Vane said you two were in bed and I had to see it for myself."

"Shut it, twerp." Zane argued.

Kane grinned lazily.

"Think she'll agree to it?" Kane asked, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Probably not at first, if I know her well enough like I think I do." Zane replied.

"If anyone can get through her, you can." Kane said. "But then again, you know once she's human and the Salvatores leave her alone - assume they do - that you'll be stuck protecting her every day of every year, right?"

"I know."

"And if she gets sick with a disease, you'll be stuck facing death for her honor."

"Such a bleak optimistic you are." Zane scoffed.

Kane left shortly after, leaving Zane with Celeste once again. He continued to brush his fingers through her hair, attempting to keep her asleep for as long as possible. The vampire was exhausted and it seemed her dreams were better than her reality.

But she soon woke when the sun finally set beyond the horizon.

Zane was there when she woke, too.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty."

She smiled and stretched her well rested limbs.

"What are you doing here still?"

"You were laying on me." Zane shrugged a shoulder. "Didn't wanna wake you."

"Such a weird creature."

Zane grinned.

"Where's Kane and Vane?"

"Working on a few things I ordered them to."

Celeste raised an eyebrow.

"It's nothing. Just a few fighting techniques here and the-OW!"

Zane rubbed his ribs where her fist had been.

"It's part of the nature of being a werewolf, princess." Zane said. "Another werewolf thing. Like most animals, we spent a large part of our lives engaged in the three Fs of basic survival. Feeding, fighting and fu- reproduction." He grinned at her horrified face.

She was hearing the words. They just weren't registering on her Richter scale of sanity. Or was it insanity now? Hell, she didn't know if she was sane or insane anymore. She filed the image that appeared in her mind with his words away as an excellent and insulting question to ask the earl at an utterly inappropriate future moment.

"Come on." Zane said as he sat up. "I suppose you need some food."

It hadn't registered to her that her stomach was empty and her thirst was a wild hunger. She followed Zane downstairs and into the kitchen where a woman and two men sat. The woman was cooking something that didn't smell too bad, while the others, Vane and Kane were looked at her suspiciously. Kane especially had a look of disdain on his face.

She didn't like it.

She wanted to shrink back into the hallway.

Zane squeezed her hand softly.

"He's like that with everybody when he doesn't get enough sleep. Don't take it personally. Some people were just born with a broomstick shoved up their asses. In Kane's case, it's lodged sideways." He went over to his brother and ruffled his hair. The younger brother looked like he wanted to kill Zane, glaring at his back as he went over to Ariella and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Smells delicious." Zane grinned. "Ariella, this is our friend Celeste - Celeste," Zane turned to her. "This is Ariella."

"Hiya." The blonde turned, waved with a spatula in her hand, smiled and then turned back to her cooking project.

Zane had taken a seat on the chair that wasn't occupied while Celeste looked on from the doorway. She knew he would never leave her, never let her down - because the man had never abandoned anything in his long, werewolf life. If she hadn't taken the gold rope of their bond, she knew Zane would have sat on her and hog-tied her with it.

She liked that.

A lot.

And she shouldn't have.

It is hard to accept being different, hard to have people avoid looking at you, and still believe in yourself. That's how she felt, in a room full of werewolves.

"You can sit down," Vane ushered her into the chair next to Zane. "We don't bite... unless it's Zane and you're into that kind of thing."

He growled soon after, when Zane kicked his shin under the table, giving him a pointed look.

Celeste couldn't stop the grin that was forming on her lips.


	32. Down This Strange Street

He had been searching all night for a way to break this sire bond that Klaus supposed was between them. Time was such an odd thing. One moment you could talk to someone, then suddenly, they were gone. Sometimes he wanted to take a memory - one perfect memory - curl up in it, and go to sleep. Forever.

"Find anything?"

"Nope." Damon replied. "The upshot of her tirade about the werewolf brothers was that I was the devil's spawn and should be locked up in a tower before I unleashed hordes of the living dead to slaughter them all in their sleep." Damon paused for a moment before finishing. "Well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but not by much."

Stefan sat down next to his brother.

"I know you hate this.. this sire bond that Klaus thinks you and her have."

"When times are rough, the weak bail and the tough get creative." Damon shrugged his shoulders.

He didn't say anything more, just waited for his brother to tell him what he'd been thinking. It was pure speculation, and should Damon tell him, he was opening himself up to ridicule by saying anything at all, especially anything to do with Celeste, the one that he thought was the one that would change his life. The one that would finally give him a happy ending. So, instead, Damon sat on the floor and said nothing.

All change brings bad things and good things to replace the bad and good things that were before. It is natural to look back and say it was better before—but that does not make it true. Different is not worse. It is just different. Klaus acting different should have been a sign to Damon. He should've known. How could he have been so stupid to not see that Klaus was playing them all along?

"I miss her." Damon whispered finally, after a few moments of silence, throwing the papers he held back into the box.

Stefan was quiet for a moment, appreciating the one and only moment he thought he'd never see again; his brother's humanity. In full display.

He could see the weight there in his brother's eyes, the thought of the day won't be breaking the sunless night he was stuck in. He could even feel the thorn that was in his side, his knuckles bruised from a losing fight.

Stefan's hand reached out and grabbed Damon's shoulder.

"We'll find a way outta this, brother." Stefan whispered. "We always do."

In a moment of brotherhood, Damon and Stefan were united once again, as brothers, on a mission to keep the other from falling apart.

Now, all they had to do, was keeping doing that for the rest of eternity.

This was going to be fun.

"Get your jacket." Damon announced, standing.

"For what?"

"We're going to Bourbon Street."

* * *

New Orléans was just as jam packed as it was back in the forty's, the last time either brother had seen the city. The last time Damon had turned a vampire in the forty's, she was overbearing and annoying.

That's when Damon had figured out that she was sired to him.

And he wanted to strangle her for it, too.

Both brothers had found the witch's hideout. It was the same way it was all those years ago, same dusty old shop that needed a paint job - bad.

"Can I help you?" The little petite woman watched as the two brothers stepped forward.

It was Damon that spoke first.

"Don't act like you don't know who I am, Val or has memory escaped you?" Damon snapped. "Since you're about eighty, but you look not a day over fifty."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You always were a liar."

"I got what I wanted out of it." Val sneered.

"And I didn't." Damon sneered back. "But I'm here to collect."

"I'll say this once, gentlemen," Val leaned forward, over the counter. "Get out of my store before I put you both in the ground, where you should have been over a century and a half ago."

People as old and powerful as he should never be given someone to love.

For Celeste, he would destroy the world.

Damon's hand shot out and grabbed her by the throat. "You know, you can threaten me all you want, but when you threaten my family -" Damon smirked, teeth glimmering in the dim light. "- well that just makes me very angry."

Over the years, Stefan had learned not to question his brother to closely - mostly because he wouldn't answer him. So instead, Stefan just stood his ground next to his big brother.

"You must be threatening me to do something for a girl."

"Wrong." Damon squeezed his hand tighter. "She's a woman. And you're going to tell me how to break a vampire sire - bond, and this time, I want the truth. None of this bullshit about killing twelve human sacrifices for your own personal gain, you understand me?"

He had lived a very long time, and only since he gained Celeste back, had he learned to fear. He'd discovered that he had never been brave before - just indifferent. She had taught him that to be brave, you have to fear losing something. And Damon Salvatore had everything to lose.

Val was quiet for a moment, before speaking. "To break a sire bond that happens between two vampires - you have to set her free, tell her that she doesn't have feelings for you. The reason there's a sire bond in the first place is because she loved you when she was human. The only cure, vampire, is to tell her to live her life - _without you_."

Anger rose up in Damon, like a violent storm that had been unleashed.

Then, Val's body went limp and fell to the floor of the store.

Stefan looked at his brother, who was seething with anger as he stormed out of the store. He followed soon after, catching up to Damon and grabbing his brother by the arm.

"Damon, wait."

"For what, Stefan?" Damon yelled, tears welling up in his eyes. "She told us the answer to breaking this vampire sire-bond! There is no way out of it!"

"Listen to me, brother!"

Damon stopped, dumbfounded at his little brother's angry outburst.

Stefan had grabbed Damon by the collar of his jacket. "You will listen to me, brother. There has to be a way out of this. You hear me? We will find a way. I won't let your happiness, that you've only just finally found again, to be taken away this easily."

Damon couldn't believe his ears.

His brother, was trying to keep his faith in tact.


	33. Death's Shadow: Part I

"There's a war coming." Zane whispered, looking out of the window.

"The clouds are getting darker by the hour." Vane replied.

"I have a bad feeling, brother."

"You aren't the only one." Vane whispered, inclining his head to Ariella, who was sitting at the table, mug in her hands that were shaking violently.

"Ariella?" Zane took a seat in front of her. "What's the matter?"

"... Nature is upset." Ariella whispered. "Pissed off. The balance is off. Must... make... right..."

Zane looked up at his brother.

All Vane could do is stare at the witch.

Celeste walked in the kitchen then, wondering what the commotion was about. "What's going on?"

"There's a war coming." Zane spoke first.

Perhaps, after all, romance did not come into one's life with pomp and blare, like a knight riding down to save the damsel in distress; perhaps it crept to one's side like an old friend through quiet ways, sneaking into the blood stream and taking over the heart; perhaps it revealed itself in seeming prose, until some sudden shaft of illumination flung its pages and betrayed the rhythm and the music, perhaps love unfolded naturally out of a beautiful friendship, as a golden-hearted rose slipping from its green sheath.

That's what plagued Celeste the most.

She didn't know if her love was real.

If Damon's love was real.

How could one tell?

_If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. If they don't, they never were. _

It was a saying that she somehow always lived by.

And it seemed like this situation was perfect for that quote.

She no longer believed in the idea of soul mates, or love at first sight. But she was beginning to believe that a very few times in your life, if you were lucky, you might meet someone who was exactly right for you. Not because he was perfect, or because you were, but because your combined flaws were arranged in a way that allowed two separate beings to hinge together. And that's what her and Damon were.

Twin Flames.

She couldn't let him go, without fighting for him first.

She had to make him see the sense.

She didn't give a damn about a sire-bond.

Celeste had sucked in a breath, her hand over her heart.

All three brothers looked at her.

"What is it?"

Celeste looked up at Zane. "He's hurting."

"Who?"

"Damon." Celeste whispered, before yanking her jacket off the hook. "I'm sorry, I have to go to him." She took off at vampire speed out of the door.

"Should we follow her?" Kane asked.

"_Absolutely_." Zane replied as he raced out the door.

* * *

What awaited the vampire when she finally reached the Salvatore house was terrifying. They looked like normal werewolves that were attacking, but they weren't. Because she caught a glimpse of Klaus and that's all the confirmation she needed.

Celeste pushed her legs faster, picking out Damon's mind in the crowd, driven by something that was more than love or loyalty.

She found him, on the ground, being attacked by a woman hybrid.

"Get off him, bitch!" She grabbed the hybrid by the back of the neck and throwing her off him, a good fifty feet in the air. And then she bent down near him. "Are you okay?"

Damon attempted to sit up, but groaned in pain.

Celeste cringed as he lifted his sleeve, showing her that he'd been bitten.

In a moment of weakness, she had crashed her lips against his, her hands on his face, whispering. "Forgive me, for what I'm about to do."

"Wha-"

She didn't give him a chance to question her as she snapped his neck, hearing the sickening crack of the spine.

Gently, she laid his body down on the grass.

She was about to fight to the death.

She knew he wouldn't allow her to do that if he knew.

She had to keep telling herself that it was what she had to do.

She only hoped that he'd forgive her later.

If there was a later.

Zane had shown up next to her.

Then Vane.

And lastly, Kane.

She looked at Kane.

"Take him inside and whatever you do, Kane, keep him protected. He's been bitten. There's a cellar in the basement, put him in there, if he wakes, tell him I'll explain everything soon." She had said it all in one breath that she wasn't sure that Kane understood her.

He must have.

Because the youngest brother picked up the elder Salvatore and began running toward the house. Watching his retreating back, Celeste's eyes grew dark, distant and cold. She wanted blood on her hands.

She wanted Klaus.

"Whatever you're about to do, don't."

"Don't make me snap your neck, too, Zane." Celeste replied darkly as she stood.

Vane pulled his brother behind him, letting her pass.

"She's out for blood, brother." Vane whispered. "I've seen this once before. It's best to stay far from her if you want to live."

She went through the battleground, the air around her charged with rage, aiming for Klaus. The hybrids that attempted to get to her, were thrown aside, their necks snapped like a chicken bone.

Klaus was hanging onto Elena, with Stefan standing a few feet away, his hands in the air.

"Klaus!" Celeste yelled, her voice booming over the commotion. "Didn't you know that only cowards torture women?"

She stepped up beside Stefan and gave him a knowing glance.

"You should know there is nothing more dangerous than a woman that is not afraid to die." Celeste said dangerously. "Release her, you and I have some unfinished business."

"I keep her and you won't attack." Klaus smirked. "You think I'm stupid?"

"I think," Celeste began. "You don't know me very well." She used her vampire speed to push Elena into Stefan's arms as she took Klaus to the ground.

"Your hybrids bit Damon." Celeste growled. "I'm going to get your blood one way or another. with or without your permission."

Her rage was so high, any other day, she wouldn't have been able to take on the Original. But her will and rage were enough to take him down. Her soul was on fire - a fire that burned intensely. She was determined to burn anything that came near her. She was furious and her rage and fury were driving her to kill Klaus, no matter how much torture she would endure later, she would kill him.

He tried to push her off, but she kept her hold.

"You kill me, everyone dies." Klaus spat.

"I know your weakness, Klaus." Celeste sneered, her fingers digging into his chest, just where his heart lay underneath.

Stefan showed up a second later.

"Get me some bottles."

_I can kill him, Stefan and everyone will live. I need his blood before I kill him. We all drink his blood and no one else has to die but him. _Her mental voice flooded his mind. Stefan's eyes glinted in the sun.

He was gone a second later.


	34. Death's Shadow: Part II

Stefan had returned with several vials a few seconds later, while Celeste held Klaus mobilized.

"This is for having those vampire hunters torture me." Celeste snarled as she bit into Klaus' flesh on his arm. Stefan caught the blood in a few vials before the wound closed. "And this," Celeste smirked, "is for betraying our trust." She went to strike at his neck but Klaus managed to get an arm free of the mobilization and drew a small stake.

She felt it go into her chest.

As she fell, she heard a scream.

Zane.

The werewolf had jumped and attacked Klaus, biting and clawing, with Vane right behind him.

Stefan was staring down at Celeste, who was coughing up blood.

"Shhh." He whispered as his hand gripped the stake and pulled it straight up, yanking it out of her chest.

Celeste gave a weak breath of relief as Elena and Bonnie came running over.

"Oh my god."

"Tell Da-" Celeste choked out. "Tell Da-mon, that's I - I'm sorry."

"Tell him yourself." Ariella appeared out of nowhere. "'Cuse me, girl." She moved past Elena and bent down near Celeste.

"Just let me - go."

"Absolutely not," Ariella snapped. "Zane will kill me and I'm fairly certain your vampire love would do the same." She put her hands over the vampire's chest, whispering words that none of them understood.

Poor Bonnie only understood one simple word.

Heal.

The witch that had showed up out of nowhere was healing Celeste.

How was that possible?

Zane appeared on the other side of Celeste.

"_My black bird_," Whispered a voice in the darkness, heart wrenchingly familiar, drawing her out of the dark. She recognized it immediately, just as she realized it was a figment of her desperate imagination, because the real owner of that voice would never be here, talking to her. Because she had snapped his neck. She had snapped his neck, because she knew this would be the outcome.

_Damon_? It couldn't have been.

She had to be dreaming.

There was no way this was real.

"_Wake up_," The voice that sounded like Damon murmured, his deep voice cutting through the layers and layers of the darkness. "_Don't do this. Fight it. Come back to me._"

She didn't want to wake up. What was waiting for her? There was nothing but pain waiting for her if she woke. If she was asleep, she couldn't feel anything. The darkness was like a really soft bed that was so welcoming and inviting that you didn't want to move, didn't want to get out of bed.

The voice was like that irritating alarm clock that kept buzzing no matter how many times you hit the snooze, or like that overbearing parent that would rip the nice, warm blanket off your body to make sure you got to school on time.

If she was asleep, she didn't have to face the real Damon and the cold contempt on his face when he looked at her. She drew away from the voice, drew deeper into the comforting blackness. And, through the layer of dreams and delirium, she could of sworn she heard a quiet sob.

"_Please_." A hand gripped mine, real and solid, anchoring her to life. The voice broke off, took a ragged breath. "_Don't leave_," The voice whispered, so broken, so fragile. "_Celeste, don't go. Come back to me._"

She stood still, vision blurring, and in that moment, she heard her heart break. It was a small, clean sound, like the snapping of a flower's stem in the summer's breeze. He sounded so defeated, like he would gladly give up if she didn't want to fight any more.

Something pulled her from the darkness, like a harness that was being pulled on the other side by some unnatural force. But there was also something that was pulling her from behind, trying to keep her in the darkness.

"Why isn't it working?" The same voice she'd heard in her dream asked, panic laced in his voice.

"The balance of nature has been interrupted." She recognized the voice as Ariella.

"What the hell does that mean?" Another voice spoke.

"It means, nature wants to keep her, to restore the balance."

"Then I'll kill him." Damon said.

She felt the loss of a hand in hers and a cold chill ran down her spine.

The next thing she faintly heard was Klaus, screaming.

_Served him right.,_ she thought.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"She's still alive."

_Celeste?_

_Damon?_

_You can hear me? Open your eyes!_

_I like the darkness... it's soft._

_No! Open your eyes, damnit! Please, just open your eyes._

"What's going on?"

"He heard her thoughts." Stefan answered.

_Please, come back to me._

_I'm cold. My body won't move._

_Just come back to me and I'll keep you warm._

_The darkness is getting thicker... like fog._

_Fog?_

The real Damon's eyes closed, the world disappearing. He concentrated, attempting to move the fog that was plaguing her. She told him fog. He could control the fog. Maybe it would work.

He could only hope.

Somewhere in the dream, the fog began to disappear, with the sunlight draping in. The light was so bright, she had to shield her eyes. When she drew her hand away, Damon was standing there, his left hand outstretched, the underside of his ring glistening in the light.

_Take my hand._

Celeste took his outstretched hand.

Back in the real world, the vampire sucked in a deep breath. Before she knew it, she was being pulled up and was against a familiar chest. He smelled like the familiar storm of the sea, mixed with something she couldn't put her finger on.

All she could think of was that she was home.

She clung to his torso, a quiet sob tearing through her chest. His fingers ran through her hair, comforting her.

"Come on," She heard Stefan say. "Let's burn the body."

Damon looked up at his little brother as he stood, still hugging the vampire to him and smiled, a true smile.

Stefan returned the smile before he stepped out of view to deal with Klaus' body.

"She okay?"

"She's alive," Damon whispered, his chin still resting on the top of her head. "That's all that matters."

"She's something special." Zane said. "Take care of her, vampire." He stood then, going to help with the body.

"Celeste?"

The vampire turned her head to meet Elena's dark brown eyes. Her eyes looked down as Elena set her hand on her leg. "Thank you."

"For what?" Celeste croaked out, her voice nothing but a whisper.

"For a lot of things," Elena began. "But most of all, for not giving up."

Celeste gave her a weak smile and unlinked her arms from around Damon to take Elena into her arms, giving her a weak hug.


	35. Death's Shadow: Part III

"Here," Elena said, after she pulled away from Celeste. She popped the cork off the vial and held it while Celeste drank.

"Klaus' blood?"

"Mhm." Elena smiled.

"Did everyone else drink it, too?" Celeste asked as she leaned back into Damon's chest.

Damon responded by replacing his chin on the top of her head and wrapping his strong arms around her gently.

For a moment, Damon almost forgot how pissed he was with the vampire in his arms as he savored the fact that he'd just cock-blocked the keeper of Death. _Almost_.

"After we took down the rest of the hybrids, Stefan told us about what you said." Elena nodded. "Stefan, Damon, Caroline, Tyler, you and me."

"Good." Celeste placed her hand against her mouth, stifling a yawn.

Most of us, even if only for two minutes in our lives, have experienced at some time or another an inexplicable and random sense of complete bliss, unrelated to anything that was happening in the outside world.

This was one of those times.

The biggest evil they've had yet, was gone.

She was alive.

Everyone else was alive.

Damon was with her.

_Life was perfect_.

Ariella bent and smiled at her.

"Thank you, for your little tip." Celeste smiled softly. "Couldn't have done it without your help."

"Meh, it's only easing up the debt that I owe the brothers." Ariella shrugged. "No big deal."

"Well you're welcome here, if your wolf friends begin to smell a little too funky for your taste." Damon nodded at her, extending his gratitude toward the witch that had saved his love from a life of damnation.

"I might take you up on that offer, Damon Salvatore." Ariella winked at him before standing, leaving them sitting in the middle of the battleground, among scattered broken body parts.

You don't analyze love. You accept it.

And that's what Celeste was going to do, from now on. She had been stupid, thinking that Damon couldn't love her because of the sire-bond, and that the was reason why he sent her away with Zane.

"Can we go inside now?"Celeste asked, tilting her head up to look at Damon.

"Yes." Damon stood first, helping her to her feet.

She wrapped an arm around his waist, using it as a crutch.

"I could carry you."

"No." Celeste shook her head. "I don't need to been seen like a damsel in distress. I just need to work my old bones a little bit."

Damon chuckled lightly, placing a kiss in her hair as they walked slowly back to the house, their friends stopping what they were doing to gaze at them, as if they were the King and Queen and everyone was about to bow down to them for slaying the dragon.

Instead, Celeste watched as everyone smiled at them, a salute to the heros, saving them from a deadly and destructive night.

Stefan and Elena stood together, smiling at them.

Caroline and Tyler stood together, in awe on how she managed to take down Klaus with only her claws.

Ariella, Bonnie, Matt and Jeremy were standing near the body parts of random hybrids, cleaning up the backyard of the Salvatore house.

Zane, Vane and Kane were waiting for them at the end of the walk, simply nodding at them.

Vane gave her a wink, to which Celeste rolled her eyes.

"Thanks, Kane, for not listening to me."

"What?" Kane looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "I did listen! _He _was the one that broke out of the cellar when I told him what you were planning on doing."

Celeste could only laugh at the werewolf, but she did manage to give Damon a pointed look.

Its our actions that define us. What we choose. What we resist. What we're willing to die for. Nobody looks good in their darkest hours. But it's those hours that make us what we are. Dying is overrated. Human sentimentality has twisted it into the ultimate act of love. Biggest load of bullshit in the world. Dying for someone isn't the hard thing. The man that dies escapes. Plain and simple. Game over. End of pain. The end. Try living for someone. Through it all-good, bad, thick, thin, joy, suffering. That's the hard thing to do.

Damon led her into the house and up the stairs, which she took slowly, unaware if she'd trip and fall or not. Even though that thought shouldn't have mattered, she was immortal. But after the past few months, she was willing to be that even immortal people could fall down a flight of stairs.

And she wasn't going to take any chances.

Damon only made it worse by placing his hand on her lower back, right above her ass.

When they reached his bedroom, Celeste could have laid on the bed and slept for twenty years.

"Sleep, or take a shower?" Damon questioned.

"Sleep." Celeste responded immediately. "definitely sleep."

Damon laughed

She knew part of what turned her on so hard, make her so violent with lust, is that he's dangerous. She fell for the bad guy. She was crazy about the one who's trouble. The alpha-top-dog-vampire that didn't play well with others and didn't take orders from anyone.

Celeste wrapped her arms around Damon's neck and pressed her lips against his, spilling her soul to him. And then ancient eyes had stared at her, filled with something more. Something so alien and unexpected that she almost burst into tears. She'd seen many things in his eyes in the time that she'd known him: lust, amusement, sympathy, mockery, caution, fury. But she had never seen this.

Hope.

Damon Salvatore had hope, and she was the reason for it. She would never forget his smile. It had illuminated him from the inside out. That one smile that was worth all the pain and torture she was put through. The smile that was one-in-a-million. The smile that was that one bright star that was in a black, star less night.

He laid her down on the bed, gently, but then she had flipped them over, to where she was on top of him. She crawled up his frame, warm and soft, smelling like a miracle that had saved him from a lifetime of aloneness.

He leaned his head up and captured her lips with his.


	36. Breath of Heaven

Whenever she woke, whatever day it was, when she reached over the other side of the bed, it was empty. She sat up and found Damon standing by the window, with the last remaining sunlight rays streaming over him.

"Sleep well?"

Celeste stretched her weary bones. "Klaus is dead, right?" Celeste asked. "I didn't... imagine that, tell me I didn't imagine or dream that."

"You didn't." Damon turned his head just a fraction of an inch. "He's gone."

_Ding, Dong, De Original mortuus est, _she thought, hearing Damon's mental laugh.

"Did you dream of me?" He asked.

"Yes," She admitted grudgingly. She had a _very lucid _dream about him. She'd dreamed of his hands caressing her, of his mouth devouring her in places she never thought could be devoured.

His lush lips inched into a surprised but pleased smile.

"You were naked," She told him.

His grin spread like wild fire, his eyes gleamed with satisfaction.

"And tied up..."

He arched his eye brows in smug expectation and what she hoped was a bit of surprise, too.

Celeste smiled in satisfaction. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Two and a half days." Damon turned his whole body this time, his eyes sparkling with something she thought was long gone. "It's Christmas Eve."

Was it really? She'd completely forgotten that Christmas was right around the corner, literally. She hadn't even bothered to think of Christmas.

Crap!

She had forgotten gifts for everyone. She scrambled out of the bed, nearly tripping over her own two feet that were tangled in the bed sheet. She froze when she heard Damon's musical laugh.

"Relax, Ivanov." Damon smirked. "Your gifts for everyone are under the giant tree in the living room."

Giant tree?

_Oh this couldn't be good._

"It's not." Damon responded. "Mutt, Little Gilbert and Elena are up on the roof setting up Christmas lights while my little brother is supervising them. Bonnie is making hot cocoa with her special witchy juju cook book and Caroline is _attempting _not to burn my house down, _let alone the whole town_, trying to bake gingerbread cookies while wolf boy Tyler is making eggnog." He wrinkled his nose is disdain. "Even the three little werewolves are out there running garland all over my nice, trim bushes."

Celeste was hopping on one foot, trying to get her boot on as she listened to him.

"What, you don't like Christmas?"

"Despise it." Damon answered.

"Will you come and take a walk in the snow with me?"

"Don't like the cold." Damon replied.

Celeste stopped to look at him.

Back to the teasing.

_Lovely._

"You are beyond frustrating," She grumbled, hopping on the other foot to get her other boot on. "Why can't you do what I ask without issuing a million reasons why you won't first?"

"Because that would require me to get dress."

"We could always go streaking." Celeste shrugged her shoulders, pulling on her leather jacket.

Damon gave her a dead pan look.

Celeste couldn't resist. "Oh right, my bad." She held her hands up. "You're worried about shrinkage. I can see why, too, since you know, you're immortal and all, and I'm fairly certain that they don't make a vampire equivalent of Viagra."

She took off running, screaming at the top of her vampire lungs when she caught a glimpse of his face. It was safe to say she had the whole house wondering what the hell was happening. She managed to not run into Stefan as she took off out the front door, which was a feat in itself, with the size of him and the size of the front door being about the same width.

Damon had managed to tackle her to the ground, while everyone stood around, laughing and smiling. Using her vampire strength, Celeste managed to flip them over, so that she was on top. "Pinned ya."

Damon reversed and was soon on top of her. "I'm stronger, older, _faster._"

"You like to think so." The golden rays of the moon paid him absolute tribute. He was a buffet of muscles and corded strength. Something that made him so much more desirable. He knew she could take his abuse - so he didn't hold back one bit.

"Shhh." Damon grinned.

"Shush me again, I dare you."

"Shhhh-"

She kicked him in the gut and flipped him off her, landing in a deadly crouch.

Damon regained himself and landed in a lazy crouch.

He had no one but himself to blame, for he'd opened himself up to it.

His face was introduced to a ice cold, wet, mushy ball of snow.

Looking over at Celeste, who was bouncing on her balls of her feet, grinning like a child that had gotten the biggest sucker in the world. The rest of the gang were dumbfounded, staring at one another, wondering what would happen next.

He gave her what no one else had ever been able to give. A past to cherish. A present to enjoy. A future to anticipate.

"You two gonna stand there fucking each other with your eyes all night, or can we get on with it?" She heard Zane shouted.

She couldn't help it.

She fell over in a fit of giggles.

And that's when Damon pounced, sitting on her, pinning her to the cold ground.

Once, long ago in her world, a sunny day in Spring was her favorite time of year, but now a sunny day in winter delights her even more. It is the perfect metaphor for their love.

Sunshine on ice.

She warms his frost.

He cools her fever.

They melted into each other.

Some people bring out the worst in you, others bring out the best, and then there are those remarkably rare, addictive ones who just bring out the most. Of everything. You want to believe in black and white, good and evil, heroes that are truly heroic, villains that are just plain bad, but I've learned in the past year that things are rarely so simple. The good guys can do some truly awful things, and the bad guys can sometimes surprise the hell out of you. That was Damon. He was everything and more. And he surprised her more than anyone else.

Damon had leaned down to whisper into her ear. "You and I are going to have a long talk about smacking me in the face with a snowball."

"Bring it on, Tinker Bell." Celeste whispered back, grinning.

He wasn't handsome. That was too calm a word. He was intensely masculine. He was sexual. He attracted. And he punished those who teased him.

Mainly her.

Damon had picked her up and thrown her over his shoulder.

If he was winter, she was summer. If she was sunshine, he was night. A dark and stormy one. Every time she tried to figure him out and picture what he'd do next, he would go and surprise and do something completely opposite of what she thought he would do.

Damon had carried her into the house and up the stairs, calling over his shoulder that no one was to disturb them. Good or Evil, right or wrong, he mattered to her and she never letting him go.

They got to the bedroom and it was war.

Damon threw off her shoes while Celeste threw off his shirt.

They threw off a piece of clothing each time until they were bare, with Damon pressing his full length against her thigh. Sometimes she worried that there's not enough room in her brain for both her dreams and reality that she's a hard drive with limited gigabytes and one day she won't be able to maintain the firewall between them. She wondered if that's what senility is. Then again, with the way Damon worked his tongue, her reality was becoming better than her dreams.

Leaning down onto his arms, he prowled up the bed to her body, his eyes fixated on her secret skin as if he'd never seen anything like it. When he got in range, wide hands smoothed their way up the insides of her thighs, opening them even farther, so she sat up and captured his face in her hands.

His eyes flashed and he held his position for a split second.

Then he lunged at her, taking her down onto the bed. His tongue shot into her mouth, teeth clashing against each other and his hands tangled in her hair, trapping her head. The hunger in him was ferocious, a vampire warrior's thick-blooded need for the female company. For _sex_. He was going to take her with all the strength he had, and she was going to be sore when he was through using her. Sore and utterly blissed out.

She couldn't wait.

Yes, she decided, a man can truly change. The events of the past have taught her much about herself, and a few universal truths. She learned, for instance, that while wounds can be inflicted easily upon those we love, it's often much more difficult to heal them. Yet the process of healing those wounds provided the richest experience of her life, leading her to believe that while she has often overestimated what she could accomplish in a day, she had underestimated what she could do in a half of a year. But most of all, she learned that it's possible for two people to fall in love all over again, even when there's been a lifetime of disappointment between them.


	37. Unbound

It was still Christmas Eve by the time Damon and Celeste finished their sex romp, both eternally blissed out. Damon had made her feel like she was the most precious thing on the planet, bigger than she could possibly be, larger than life, on fire with possibilities, ecstatic to be breathing, impatient for the next moment together. She'd been happy in those last few hours, so alive and happy.

"We should spend the last hours of Christmas with everyone." Celeste said, after a breathless moment.

"In a minute." Damon grabbed her waist and pulled her closer to him. "I want to enjoy this."

She wasn't going to argue with him.

"Present time!" They heard Elena shout from downstairs. "Get down here, you two!"

Damon groaned and after a serious case of profanities, they both managed to get some clothes on and with intertwined hands, walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs to meet everyone.

Stefan was sitting at the piano, playing a soft Christmas tune, while Elena was handing out presents. Caroline was standing by the piano, tapping her fingers on the grand piano.

"Hark, the herald angels sing, glory to the new born king, peace on earth and mercy mild, god and sinners reconciled."

Celeste let go of Damon's hand and went to stand by Caroline, who was singing.

"Joyful, all ye nations, rise, join the triumph of the skies, with angelic host proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem. Hark, the herald angels sing, glory to the new-born King."

Together, the vampires continued to sing, swaying softly as everyone else gathered around the piano, enjoying the vampires soft Christmas song.

"Christ, by highest heaven adored, Christ, the everlasting Lord, late in time behold him come, offspring of the Virgin's womb."

Damon watched, with a smile on his face.

Elena came over to stand beside him.

"You seem happy." She whispered.

After a moment of silence, Damon replied, "I am."

He left her standing there and went over to stand behind Celeste, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind and swaying with her as her and Caroline carried the song until it's end, her heavenly voice piercing his heart.

"Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace, hail the son of righteousness, light and life to all he brings, risen with healing in his wings. Hark, the herald angels sing, glory to the new born king."

"Beautiful." Damon whispered in her ear, kissing her neck softly.

"Thought you didn't like Christmas?" Celeste asked, leaning into his embrace.

"I'm warming up to it." Damon replied.

A smile touched Celeste's lips.

Bonnie had bounced over to her and handed the vampire a hot cup of cocoa, to which the vampire thanked her and took a sip.

There was a weird taste to it.

She dropped the mug, glass shattering at her feet. Damon had spun around to her front, looking at her through panic eyes.

"What was in that?" Celeste choked out.

All her veins felt like they were on fire, her knees could no longer hold her up. She collapsed, but Damon had managed to cushion the fall, but taking her down to the floor with him, leaning her body against his own, the hard muscles beneath his skin contracting with the impact.

"It wasn't me." Bonnie held her hands up when Damon gave her a dirty look, just as Elena and Stefan came over to check on the fallen vampire.

"Zane had handed me the cup and told me to give it to Celeste and no one else."

Life's not linear at all. It happens in lighting flashes. So fast you don't see those lay-you-out cold moments coming at you until you're Wile E. Coyote, steamrolled flat as a pancake by the Road Runner, victim of your own elaborate schemes. She had trusted Zane. How could she be so stupid?

"What?" Damon snapped. "Where is that fur ball?"

"He and his brothers left after he handed me the cup."

"Damon..." Celeste looked down at her violently shaking hands. "I can't control them."

"Shhhh," He drew her into him and held her close. "It's okay."

"Damon, your eyes." Stefan pointed out, then took a breath.

It was true.

Damon could feel his fangs elongate. He took her hands in his and when he drew his hand back, the crimson red liquid was unmistakable. "Blood."

"Not just any blood," Stefan confirmed his suspicious feeling. "Human blood."

Everyone stared up at the deathly pale Celeste.

Anyone worth knowing breaks once.

Once.

No shame, no foul if you survive it.

You did.

That's when Celeste broke, like water being thrown on her flame, putting it out for eternity. And then it was, that grief and pain made themselves known to her more powerful than never before. The truth is, you cannot prepare anyone for this, and this she would wish on no one in the world.

Vampires do breathe, by the way, but their chests don't move like humans'. Have you ever lain in the arms of your sweetheart and tried to match your breathing to his, or hers? You do it automatically. Your brain only gets involved if your body is having trouble. Fortunately there was nothing about this situation that was like being in the arms of a sweetheart except that she was leaning against Damon's chest. She could no more have breathed with him than she could have ignited gasoline with a wet match.

"Breathe, Celeste." Damon tried to calm her, by rubbing her arms up and down.

It wasn't help.

"I'm human, and you tell me to breathe!?" She was nearing a panic attack.

There's nothing more powerful than human fear - not magic, not vampire strength.

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

There was a surge of anger that welled up inside of her and she stood, slowly at first, then definitely, like her shaking bones weren't going to stop her.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"I'm going to find me a werewolf," She turned to Damon. "And I'm going to show him what the consequences are with turning me human."

She said no more as she walked out of the house and into the frigid air.

It was the damnedest thing, life. Once you decide exactly how things are going to go, something or someone comes along and messes it all up. And in this case, it was someone that she had trusted beyond belief.

"And just how are you going to get there?" Damon asked, appearing in the doorway.

"Give your keys."

"Hell no."

"Stefan?" Celeste turned to his brother as he appeared in the doorway.

She was greeted by a set a keys coming at her. Thank the gods that she managed to catch them in her hands, instead of her face. She turned a pointed gaze to Damon. "See, he listens."

She turned, headed toward the garage, when her feet stopped.

There stood Zane.

Along with his brothers.

And she had a desirable thought to murder them all.

"I see you're still alive."

"And you've got about two seconds before I kill you."

Both Kane and Vane stood in front of their brother when she stepped forward.

"Move."

"Take one more step and I'll break you in half." Vane warned.

In a flash, both Salvatores were in front of her, baring teeth.

"Threaten her again and I'll fold you into so many pieces, you'll look like an origami werewolf." Damon sneered.

"You turned her human, why and how?" Stefan questioned.

"Our witch friend."

"The one that healed her and brought her back from the dead?"

Vane nodded at Stefan.

"Why?"

"Because I love her." Zane spoke between the two bodyguards.

"You call this love?" Celeste argued, pushing past the Salvatore brothers. "I'm human! Who gave you the power and permission to turn me human, you selfish idiot?!"

"I won't make excuses for what I did. The truth is that your whole life can change with one split-second decision, and it doesn't matter if you told yourself you'd never do it or if you stepped into the moment with no intention of doing it." Zane said, "All it takes is for that one second of absolute panic when the solution shines right there in front of you, and you grab it... only to have it turn into ash in your hand. There is no excuse for what I did." The words had come out of his mouth before he had a chance to stop them.

"That doesn't make it okay." Celeste snapped. "Shove your half assed apology up your ass and get off this property before I let them turn you three into werewolf stew. I don't ever want to speak to you again!"

Celeste took off back toward the Salvatore house, tears freely streaming down her face. She passed Elena, who tried to get her to stop, but it was no use.

"Way to screw up a good Christmas, wolf boy." Damon said dangerously low.

You know, there comes a time in everyone's life when they have to carefully examine the goals they've set for themselves. When they have to admit their limitations and look at their capabilities in a more realistic way. This was one of those times, when Celeste nearly tripped over her own two feet trying to get to the stairs. And the biggest embarrassment of them all? Elena had to grab her to keep from falling.

Terrific.

"Can I have a glass of water?" She asked, her voice was hoarse, probably from screaming as Elena helped her sit down on the couch.

Damon and Stefan walked back into the house then and took a seat in the living room.

"Their witch turned her human, so maybe she can change us all?"

"It's a lost cause." Celeste said, already missing her vampire counterpart. "I don't know where to find her and I doubt they're gonna hand over the ingredients to do it again."

She looked up at Damon, who had a clouded expression on his face.

"Damon?"

He seemed to snap out of his trance.

"What?"

"What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing." He took her hand, the one that had been cut by the fallen glass. It was still bleeding freely, but she had balled her hand into a fist, which had stopped most of the smell. "We need to get this cleaned up."

He wasn't just masculine and sexual, he was carnal in a set-your-teeth-on-edge kind of way; he was almost frightening. Being human was such a weird experience. It set Damon in a whole new light. He was deathly still to her human eyes.

It made her shiver.

Strength wasn't about being able to do everything alone. Strength was knowing when to ask for help and not being too proud to do it.

"Will you?" She asked, then repeated her question in a better way. "I mean, can you, or is it too much for you?"

Damon snorted at her in response.

"Get me the first aid kit, Stefan."

"You have a first aid kit?" Celeste asked, shock written all over her face.

"Elena liked to pretend she could pick a fight with a knife and win, which is why this," He held up the small first aid kit that Stefan had placed in his palm. "Came in handy whenever she lost, which was every time."

Elena smacked him on the arm.

It's funny how, when things seem the darkest, moments of beauty present themselves in the most unexpected places. Some people fall apart when they get hurt. Puddle into apathy and despair and never recover. They wait all their lives for someone to come along and rescue them. Hope is a critical thing. Without it, we are nothing. Hope shapes will. The will shapes the world.

She hated the feeling, the core feeling that she felt as she watched Damon clean and bandage her injured, so very human hand.

She felt human.

She felt so sickly human, a feeling she hadn't felt in over a hundred and seventy years and never thought she'd feel again until she was dead.

And even then, it was a slim chance.

* * *

**Author's Note** | _Dun, dun, dun. Just when you thought it was going to be good, I leave you with a twist! :) This is my first on this story, leaving a little author's note at the very end of a chapter, but I wanted to see if you guys liked the twist in this chapter and if you picked up on it a few chapters back. So tell me what you think in the comments and as always, reviews are so welcome!_

_Oh! and ignore my lame attempt at vampires signing. I happened to stumble upon the Christmas song on my playlist and I figured, hey, what the hell, it's a Christmas chapter anyway! xD_

_And to those that are questioning the existence of the sire bond now that Celeste is human (again), yes, the sire bond is done. It's kaput. It died the second Celeste's blood turned human. But now does that mean, if Damon turns her again (if she demands that he turn her back into a vamp) that the sire bond will become again? I don't know, you'll just have to wait and see. :)_


	38. No Rest For The Wicked

_"Breakfast." Damon called out as he pushed the door open with his foot, carrying in a large tray. Celeste groaned and mumbled about wanting to go back to sleep, but she caught scent of the food and her body didn't want her to go back to sleep. He looked like an angel, walking in, smiling at her as if he'd never let her go in the first place. _

_As he got closer and set down the tray over her legs, she smiled at him. She took his hand and lay it gently on her swelling abdomen, and his face would blaze with happiness and pride, and then he kissed her, gently at first, but then with a burning passion that she couldn't understand._

Celeste bolted upright, her breath heaving. She glanced around, with no one in the room. No Damon. No one. Panic was rising in her very human body, like a tide that had met a hurricane.

"Damon!" She yelled, hoping to get him upstairs.

Instead, she got Elena, who came up the stairs at a vampire speed and was on her bed in a heartbeat.

"I called for Damon." She said breathlessly.

"He's a bit busy." Elena smiled gently at her, patting her leg. "What's the matter?"

"I had -" She couldn't tell Elena. Elena would go and tell Damon. "I had... a very weird dream."

"And?"

"And I hate being human in a house full of a vampires." She spit out, before she was able to catch them. "But it seems I've got this set of scales inside me that I never used to have, or at least I wasn't aware of, and I can't shake the feeling that if I don't try to keep them balanced, I'll lose something I wont be able to get back."

She was adrift in a sea of questions and if answers were lifeboats, she was in imminent danger of drowning. It's difficult to reconcile the fantastic with reality; hard to accept that things we can't see exist - terrifying, in fact.

"What are you guys doing?"

"Damon found the witch."

"What?!" Celeste flipped the covers off her and Elena held her hands out.

"Would you calm down?"

"Calm down?!" Celeste shouted. "Why? Why would I want to do that?" She ran out of the bedroom, her human feet carrying her, pounding against the hardwood floor. When she reached the stairs, she took two at a time, surprised that she didn't trip or falter once.

Damon and Stefan stared at her, while Elena passed her on the stairs and stood next to Stefan.

Celeste's human cheeks burned red. "Elena said you found the witch." She looked over at Damon.

"We did." Damon said, setting his glass of bourbon down on the nearest table. "But, It's Christmas Day, so we figured we'd enjoy the silence first."

In one swift movement, he stood and was in front of her. All in the blur of his superhuman speed. It was crazy, to think that she was going against her father - against everything he ever stood for and was standing in front of the person he forbid her to see. Damon had the whole bad-boy-in-need-of-redemption thing going on, but the catch is, most bad boys don't want redemption. They like being bad. They like the power they get from striking fear and panic into the hearts of fathers everywhere. And he'd definitely proved that point to her father, even if her mother never knew Damon Salvatore had a bad side and refused to believe otherwise.

"But -"

Damon silenced her with his finger to her lips. "No buts. Let's enjoy this."

He had taken her hand and led her to the Salvatore library. "There's something I wanted to talk to you about." He had sat down on the leather couch near the window as he reached out and pulled her toward him.

They stayed there, looking at each other, his hand still wrapped in her shirt hem, her heart hammering so hard she was sure he could hear it. Scratch that. She knew he could. She was no longer a vampire, her heart was beating a frantic, very human pace. She knew he could hear it, thrumming in his eardrums.

He tugged her in front of him and she stumbled, half falling onto his lap. She tried to scramble up, cheeks burning, but he pulled her down onto his knee, one arm going around her waist. Damon reached out, capturing her hand in his. He laced his fingers casually through hers as Celeste leaned against him and the calm finally came, settling over her peacefully.

And then he kissed her. Gently. Softly. Not on the lips, as she'd imagined so many times before, but on her forehead.

The gesture was sweet and a little possessive.

All she could think about was him, and how much she wanted this, and how incredibly lucky she was to get it, and how tight she was going to hold onto it. No matter what.

They sat there in silence, enjoying the calmness, until Damon spoke. "I was up all night, watching you sleep, hearing your human heart pump blood through your veins and I kept wondering if you enjoyed being human."

It wasn't a question, but Celeste had answered it like one. "I'm slowly getting used to it." She turned on his lap and looked up at him. "Why?"

"Because," Damon smiled at her, his fingers raking themselves through her dark hair. "I've been thinking, and when I found the witch, I thought more about it, more about becoming human, too."

"I thought you liked being a big, bad vampire?"

"I do." Damon said, "I did, anyway."

"Until?"

"Until I tapped into your mind while you were asleep.."

Oh crap.

Celeste's face blushed even more red, causing Damon to chuckle.

"You mean my dream?"

Damon nodded.

"I wasn't sure what you're reaction was going to be, until I saw your expression when a certain part came up."

She saw the mischief inside his eyes.

She knew then.

Celeste smacked his arm. "That was you! That was your doing!"

Damon grinned lazily at her and then confessed. "Why do you think I had Elena go upstairs when you called? I thought you'd figured it out."

Celeste shook her head, burying her face into Damon's chest. His chest shook with laughter, a musical laugh that, after a few moments of shock, made Celeste laugh herself.

"You still didn't answer my question."

Celeste regained her composure. "It's your choice, Damon, but if you choose to be human, I'll stay human with you."

Damon had smiled at her, a real smile, not one of those ones that he was forced to put on when with company, no. This was a real, genuine smile. Damon's nerves were eating away at him. His next question, would forever seal his fate. He had gently pulled her off his lap and set her on the couch. The vampire stood, standing in front of her.

Confusion set in her eyes.

That was, until he bent down on one knee.

He watched as her hands went up to cover her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes.

"This, was something I should have done over a century and a half ago," Damon began, pulling out a box from his pocket. He opened it and staring her in the face was an old Victorian style ring. "I would have done this after we got the witch to turn me back into human, but I wanted you to be able to have a secret that only you knew."

"Damon, that's your mother's ring, isn't it?"

Damon had nodded his head at her, smiling fondly at the piece of jewelry, attempting to hold back the tears. "I took it from her finger before they buried her, since my father hid everything else that belonged to her."

"May I?" Celeste asked, holding her hand out.

"Of course." Damon had taken the ring out of the box and took her hand, slipping it on her ring finger. "It's yours now."

Celeste stared at the thing. It wasn't huge, it actually fit her finger snuggly. It was amazing, how the jewels sparkled in the small sunlight rays that hit it through the window. She had slid her body off the leather couch and met him on the floor, throwing her arms around his neck, into a hug. Damon held her there, in his embrace, forever burning the memory into his mind.


	39. Let Forever Begin

The day after Christmas, Damon had traveled to a little house that was on the outskirts of town, hidden in the forest. Ariella, had agreed to meet him there. The poor witch thought she was doing Celeste a favor, not knowing that she hadn't agreed to be human at all.

"I'm sorry, again." Ariella mumbled. "About turning your beloved into a human. Zane had told me that it was her request."

"You didn't know." Damon replied.

"I still have a little bit of the batch that I made for Celeste, it might be enough to make you human."

"How'd you -?" Damon asked confused, before Ariella stopped him.

"I felt your energy the second you walked in, Damon." The blonde witch handed him a small vial of a red liquid.

Damon raised an eyebrow at her.

"The color of blood," Ariella smiled. "It's supposed to represent the human soul. Human souls need blood to survive."

"Ah."

"Okay, now go on, drink it."

Damon downed the substance in one gulp, feeling like a hundred needles had been poked in his body at the same time. He dropped to his knees, trying to catch his breath.

"You have to breathe!" Ariella chuckled as she knelt down beside him.

Damon sucked in a deep breath.

"That's good, now let it out and do it again!"

He obeyed, until his hands stopped shaking and Ariella clapped him on the back.

"That's a good human."

"Human." Damon repeated, feeling the odd sensation that the word brought to his heart. He was human. His vampire life was in the past. Katherine was in the past. He had righted the wrong that Katherine created.

Ariella had held Damon stand, a little wobbly at first, but being human had quickly become second nature to him as he began his trip out into the cold, winter weather to his car.

"Thank you, Ariella." Damon had said, bringing the witch close to him, giving her a hug.

"You're welcome, Damon." Ariella smiled as Damon released. "I can't think of anyone more deserving to be human more than you."

He had smiled at her before getting into his car and taking off, back towards home.

* * *

She had been impatiently waiting, tapping her fingers against the glass of the window, waiting for him to come home. And when he did finally come home, Celeste raced over to him, throwing her arms around him.

"Well?" Celeste asked nervously, pulling away from him to inspect him.

Damon smirked at her. "Perfectly human."

Celeste grinned at him.

As his hands began to slip around her waist from behind, his body brushed against hers, and there was no mistaking the thick, hard ridge grazing her jean-clad bottom. The rest of him might be mortal, but his immortal erection certainly didn't seem to have gotten the memo.

"Where is everyone else?" He said huskily in her ear.

Celeste was weak in the knees as she replied. "Out. Far from the house."

"Perfect." Damon whispered as he spun her around to face him.

Celeste held her breath as Damon pulled her into a fiery kiss. Right in the middle of the Salvatore house. The minute his lips touched hers, all she seemed to crave was more. She didn't allow herself to think as she gave in to the whirlwind of sensations that Damon stirred in her. Her hands slipped underneath Damon's shirt and roamed his back, the tight, muscular control that could still his assassin's spin of emotions. He wanted her. He wanted her so bad. He wanted to taste her. To have her begging for more.

One swift movement and he had her in his arms, carrying her to his bedroom. He might have been mortal now, but there was nothing mortal about his affection and strength. He kicked the door open with his leather clad boot, shoving it closed with the heel of his shoe. Once she felt the bed underneath her, never breaking the kiss he started, she stripped off his jacket, tossing it carelessly across the room.

His muffled moan warmed her. She liked the fact that she had the tiniest bit of power over the unflappable Damon. She clung to him hungrily, as he quickly cast aside his own shoes, skipping his belt to focus on getting rid of her pants.

Anxious to feel his naked body pressed against hers once more, Celeste shimmied out of her pajama pants, gasping at Damon's touch. He didn't even wait to remove her underwear. Instead, he slid his hand inside and plunged his fingers into her waiting wetness. A soft moan escaped her as her hands gripped his shoulders, as her hips began moving against his fingers, meeting them thrust for thrust.

Celeste writhered beneath him, but he held her down, his one hand resting flat against her abdomen, keeping her from getting away from him. She tried her best to get rid of the wrist, to no avail and resigned herself to the sensations. He was so sweet and soft.

Very sensual and much like a panther, he crawled back up to her body, nuzzling her neck until she smiled. "I love you."

Her human heart nearly stopped. He had told her that he loved her, without her saying it first. A whole new range of emotion exploded in her.

"Forever and always." She whispered, kissing his shoulder.

She felt his hands wrap around her and then, she braced her hands against the headboard. This time, he slid himself inside her - his full, hot, satiny length filled her to the brim. She could feel his lean, muscular torso against her, as he laid butterfly kisses on her abdomen, one hand braced beside hers, while the other bracing her hip, guiding her back and forth, as he slowly made love to her, a very human pace.

Damon buried himself to the hilt with each slow thrust, and this time, his hands were free to roam all over her body. When he reached the top, his fingers intertwined themselves with hers. Celeste threw her head back, a gravely groan leaving her lips. She was being pushed over the edge - and she liked it.

Gripping the headboard so tightly that her knuckles turned ghost white against her tanned flesh, she could feel Damon was nearly the edge as well, because his slow, graceful thrusts, became urgent. He was moving faster and faster, until finally, she exploded, spasming around him, her body giving out. It didn't take long for Damon to spill himself into her, flooding her insides and giving her a yet-unfelt sense of fulfillment.

She tangled herself against him, as he pressed a kiss into her hair.

"This whole human thing, is going to take some time getting used to." He chuckled as he wrapped his naturally strong mortal arms around her, pressing her against his whole body.

"I could get used to it." She smiled up at him.

"Of course you could."

Finally, he knew the kind of loving that made two one and understood Celeste was his world. His ocean, his country, his sun, his rain, his very heart. All at once Damon's lips came crashing down onto hers and he entered her again, sliding his entire length into her in one delicious movement.

She cried out in a mixture of surprise and pleasure, completely filled with him and satisfied that she got exactly what she asked for. He didn't treat her like a fragile human, though he wasn't too rough with her. He instantly set a rhythm as she wrapped her legs around him, wanting to get as close as possible. She opened her eyes as he drew his lips away and found him looking at her with an intense gaze that she found impossible to break.

She wondered what thoughts were swirling behind those eyes but didn't have much time to contemplate anything as she bit her lip and cried out when he changed angles, hitting a miracle spot within her. She saw the smirk automatically forming on his face and couldn't help but laugh.

Only Damon would mix a rarely seen tenderness with his own special brand of cockiness at a moment like this. Her laughter quickly turned to moans as she felt the telltale buildup of tension. She began to take deeper breaths and clawed at his shoulder blades without realizing it, eliciting a surprise moan from Damon.

The sweat began to build between their bodies as she got closer and closer to her release. Damon noticed every small change in her body and slid one hand down her hip… thigh… then leg, hooking under her knee and pulling it up higher as he quickened his pace. Celeste's moans grew louder until she finally cried out with her second orgasm.

Damon slowed his movement a bit, allowing her to ride out the waves of her climax. Celeste gasped for breath until she finally came down from the high, realizing that Damon was still slowly thrusting in and out.

"Thank you, for becoming human." Celeste whispered, tracing his jaw line with her fingertips.

She was full of surprises… who else would thank him for something that should have been expected? He focused on her, who seemed to be recovered, beginning to meet his movements again. Damon leaned down and gave her the most intense, softest kiss he had ever given her. Her lips melted against his as his hand trapped her head, keeping her place.

And she knew from that moment on, that Damon Salvatore was hers and only hers.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Well, my friends. That's the end. It's a bittersweet end, seeing as I didn't want to end it here, but if I didn't end it soon, this fanfic would have been a hundred and fifty chapters long. I'm thinking of starting a sequel (It'll be the first time one of my fanfics have ever had a sequel to it), where it focuses on their human lives. Leave a comment if you liked the way this ended and keep a look out for the sequel! :) 3


End file.
